Two decades ago, Marymount University paved paradise and put up a parking lot on its main campus in residential North Arlington.
This week, the school embarked on a construction project to turn the lot in front of the historic Main House at 2807 N. Glebe Road into a campus green space.
“This restores that area to how it looked prior to May of 2000, when the lot was created to supply additional parking for the University,” spokesman Nicholas Munson said.
Construction began Monday and is expected to be completed around Sunday, Aug. 15, depending on the weather, he said.
Marymount added the surface parking lot to accommodate a growing school community at the Main Campus. Today, Marymount’s Blue and White garages now provide “ample parking” for the community, he said.
“Once it’s completed, Marymount will provide more recreational space for students while creating a positive impact on our physical campus environment,” he said.
The project is being paid for with capital funding.
Other upcoming campus projects include transforming “The Lodge,” a historic structure on the Main Campus, into a welcome center for students, families and visitors. Marymount also plans to reorient the front entrance so that fewer cars can access the campus core, making it more pedestrian-friendly, and to create a “student hub” in Rowley Hall “to promote a new community space for Marymount Saints to gather.”
The university also has a campus along N. Glebe Road in Ballston.