“Every master developer has to take a look at geography, history, market data, urban planning to reverberate out beyond the project and attract other developers to join the economic bandwagon.”
— Tim Elliott
ROWAN BOULEVARD VISION
A GLASS MAKING PAST
& ACADEMIC FUTURE
Glassboro is a quaint burrow named after its glass-making ancestors of the early 19th century. Fast forward to 1923 and Glassboro Normal School opened as of one of the first schools for teachers. Years of curriculum and name changes ultimately led to Glassboro State College and in July 1992, a generous man by the name of Henry M. Rowan, bestowed a $100 million grant to the school; his only request being that they add a College of Engineering. They did and in 1997, Rowan achieved university status.
Sounds great, right? And it was for the university, but Glassboro’s robust main street and glassmaking economic engine had all but gone away, leaving only the university to shoulder the weight of continued growth for the community.
Vision changed all that.
Working with Maryland developer, Sora Development, Tim Elliott guided the vision to connect “town and gown” – essentially uniting town hall and the University Campus via a project known as Rowan Boulevard.
It began by entering into a partnership with the town of Glassboro to purchase 92 properties (many of them abandoned and in disrepair) and combine them into one 26-acre project. Then came the master plan, mixing private investment and university functions. The plan features a hotel, student housing, continuing education, honors college and housing, retail, restaurants, parking decks and an expansive greenspace park for the entire to community to relax, meet with friends, and host festivals.
A NEW WAY
FORWARD
BIG IDEAS
& FESTIVALS
But it didn’t all happen at once. It did, however, happen with strategic phasing. Tim selectively put the most magnetic tenants at the heart of the project to draw the greatest interest and spark growth: a Barnes & Nobel Collegiate Superstore featuring Starbucks Café.
As buildings went up, Tim’s vision grew bigger, prompting him to bring council members to Baltimore, Maryland for an annual Italian Festival. Why? To illustrate how Glassboro could replicate a similar event to draw a sizeable crowd. The council loved it and did, in fact, create their own festival, which drew 5,000 people for its first 3-hour event. Today, Glassboro hosts six festivals a year, bringing in thousands of visitors and increased tax revenue along with a vibrant cultural scene that helps recruit and retain students, faculty and businesses to the town.
Though always forward thinking, Tim’s vision also paid homage to the past by naming the buildings after the town’s glassmaking families of the 19th century and placing artifacts and articles from that time on display in each lobby.
What began with a vision in 2008 reached completion in 2018. And of the many measures of a project’s success, this one is certainly of note: enrollment at Rowan University skyrocketed from 8,500 in 2008 to over 21,000 today.