St. Mary’s Academy & College purchased the former Jesuit men’s college and seminary campus in 1978, inheriting a collection of aging buildings originally constructed between the 1880’s and 1940’s to serve higher education purposes. St. Mary’s Academy & College has enjoyed significant growth in enrollment in the last decade and projects reaching 1200 students in grades K-12, divided between a Boys’ School and Girls’ School. SMAC retained the Architect to develop a Campus Development Master Plan to guide facility improvements in a coordinated manner over the next 5 to 10 years. The plan identifies those functions which can be accommodated in renovated existing buildings, new buildings required to meet space needs, and where to place them on the campus to create an effective educational setting. The plan also looks to address required capital maintenance; improve campus access, circulation, and security; and to preserve green space on campus.

A first phase of the master plan addressed the construction of a new, large parish church (the New Immaculata) in the heart of the campus on the site of the former Jesuit campus chapel (the Immaculata) which, unfortunately, burned shortly after SMAC acquired the property. This initial phase examined the competing needs of a new, large parish church and the significant parking that it requires versus the space needs for academic facilities. This phase ultimately determined that the new parish church should be built off-campus on it’s own site. This determination resulted in a separate effort to master plan the site of the New Immaculata.

With the completion of the New Immaculata in May 2023 and the transition of St. Mary’s College from a two-year to four-year degree granting institution, attention returned to improvements on the academic campus. The Architect was once again retained to execute an update to the campus master plan, incorporating completed projects and addressing changing facility needs, including new academic buildings, a new priory, and a visitor center for the Immaculata. This master plan update currently remains in process.

Services provided: programming, master planning