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SALISBURY, MD---An Eastern Shore company with ties to area construction has been selected as the developer for a new $45 million student housing and estimated $5 million retail complex at ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥.

Rinnier Development Company of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, leading an experienced team of architects and contractors, has been picked to redevelopment the current Allenwood Shopping Center, owned by the University. The Rinnier team includes WDG Architecture of Washington, D.C., and general contractor Whiting-Turner of Bethesda, MD. 

WDG is a national award-winning firm that has designed such projects as National Harbor; the Rockville, MD, Town Square; the Dover Air Force Base command post; and the University Town Center in Hyattsville, MD. Whiting-Turner has constructed major projects at some of the nation’s leading campuses including Georgetown, Emory and Stanford universities and the University of Delaware. Whiting-Turner is also building SU’s new parking garage.

The Rinnier team’s selection is subject to approval from the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, which is expected at its June meeting.

The approximately 230,000-square-foot project, which includes some 600 beds in apartment housing above a Main Street-style retail complex, will serve as a gateway to campus from the southeast along Route 13.  According to Blair Rinnier, company vice president, the complex’s stately brick academic Georgian-style architecture will complement the Teacher Education and Technology Center at the northeast corner. A visual focus will be an engaging retail courtyard with green space.

“When you’re working with a university, you have an opportunity to do something special,” he said. “My family and development team are honored and excited to be selected as the University's partner in this project,” he added. “The University has been a part of my family’s life for generations, from my delivering newspapers in the neighborhoods that surround the campus to many of us attending the University as students. My family and I will be driving by this building for the rest of our lives and are committed to partnering with the University to make something we will always be proud of.”

“This project meets the needs of both the greater community and of our students, who have requested more on-campus housing,” said Dr. Ellen Neufeldt, vice president of student affairs. “The selection of the developer was a very competitive process, and the University is looking forward to working with the Rinnier team in this public-private partnership.” With the opening of Allenwood housing in fall 2011, SU will house some 40 percent of its undergraduates in University housing on campus and in University Park, another public-private partnership near Allenwood across Route 13.

The Allenwood Shopping Center is situated between the BB&T bank and Cheers service station, which are not part of this development. Construction is expected to begin in early 2010.