DATE: Tuesday, August 19, 1997              TAG: 9708190295

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   87 lines

FILLING IN A PORTRAIT OF CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT'S FUTURE EXPANSION PLANS INCLUDE A $30 MILLION ARTS CENTER AND OTHER NEW FACILITIES.

Recent expansion plans for Christopher Newport University sketch a portrait of a college that is not only growing, but also fleshing out within its borders.

``Widening the scope,'' is how university President Paul S. Trible Jr. describes it. ``Transforming this young, vibrant university . . . to expand its reach and reputation throughout Virginia and beyond.''

The most impressive, and expensive, addition would be a $30 million performing arts center ``without rival in Virginia,'' Trible said in an interview Monday. Its design would surround 1,750 seats with natural acoustics, with an opening night planned for New Year's Eve 1999. The center would be fashioned from a former high school building adjacent to the university that was bought two years ago.

A revised site plan released last week added a $10 million 900-car parking garage next to the performing arts center. The revised plan also calls for a new $25 million Sports and Wellness Center that would house a 2,500-seat gymnasium, a 200-meter track, basketball and volleyball courts, and exercise and free-weight rooms.

Four old gymnasiums would be converted into two additional theaters, a fine arts center and support rooms. A 420-student dormitory would be built, mirroring an existing dormitory. And space has been designated for several other smaller dormitories and academic buildings.

After all, enrollment is increasing at the 37-year-old school. About 500 freshmen out of the registered 662 this fall will squeeze into dorms designed for 420. The freshman class will top last year's record by 105 students.

``Our student population is growing,'' Trible said - but added that growth ultimately will be limited.

``We don't want to get big. The state of Virginia has plenty of big universities. We want to stay small and personable.''

Under Trible's guidance, the university is reaching for a full-time enrollment goal of 4,000 by the year 2002. About 3,700 full-time students are projected for fall, up from 3,500 when Trible took charge in January 1996.

All the growth and expansion under CNU's new plan would cost about $70 million. But more impressive than the price tag is the relatively tight schedule the university has set for itself.

By January 1998, the plan would have 70 professors operating out of as many new offices, as well as four new classrooms, in a nearby Crestar Bank building. Trible announced Monday that the CNU Real Estate Foundation and Crestar will finalize the purchase of the four-story, 40,000-square-foot office building within about 60 days.

With this building, university officials take another step toward making CNU more visible by adding property that fronts Warwick Boulevard, one of two main Peninsula thoroughfares. CNU buildings are somewhat obscured by businesses and apartments now, and the bank building is the fourth of 12 properties on the more visible stretch of Warwick that the university intends to buy over the years.

``CNU is in business for the long term,'' said Trible, a former U.S. senator. ``Sooner or later, all these properties will be controlled by the university.''

He admits the project is a ``very'' ambitious undertaking. Several state-level educators agree.

``If you didn't have someone of Mr. Trible's force and personality, perhaps they would not approach the physical construction and growth of the campus as aggressively as he has,'' said Peter Blake, the State Council of Higher Education's associate director for communications and advanced technology.

``The project will have to meet the test of the marketplace in a rather rigorous way,'' Blake said, referring to CNU's enrollment expectations.

In addition, the school is requesting that the state appropriate $25.5 million in nongeneral funds to build various facilities. The money, once appropriated, could be collected through student and user fees.

CNU is also requesting $5.5 million for land acquisition from the state's general fund. It is unusual for the state to appropriate money from that fund for land acquisition, said Don Finley, the state council's associate director for finance.

Citing two other state schools, Finley said, ``Usually when ODU and VCU pick up property, they use their own money to buy the land.''

But the state sometimes makes exceptions when the school can demonstrate an immediate and critical need, he said.

``Most of the people that have built up these institutions have been ambitious people - ambitious for their students and their institutions,'' Finley said. ``That's not a negative - that's a fact.''

As to CNU, ``I just think the place is coming into its own,'' Finley said. ``Whether or not they can pull it off in the time they're saying is anybody's guess.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

CNU President Paul Trible outlined his vision for ``transforming

this young, vibrant university . . . to expand its reach.''

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