PLEASANTVILLE, NY-Pace University, Westchester County's largest university and the county's 13th largest employer, said Tuesday its master plan to transform and revitalize its campus here had gotten municipal approval. The Town of Mount Pleasant Planning Board has voted to approve the site plan for phase 1A of Pace's $100-million construction project, for which a Sept. 1 groundbreaking is planned, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Pleasantville campus.

The university says that the five-year, multi-phase project will enable it to consolidate functions that are now split between campuses two-and-half miles apart in Pleasantville and Briarcliff. Among other things, it will eliminate 3,000 shuttle bus trips per year between the two campuses, says Pace.

At present, 690 students reside on the Pleasantville campus and 590 at Briarcliff. The 35-acre Briarcliff campus, which Pace opened in 1977, has been put up for sale. Although no classes are taught in Briarcliff, the plan will allow athletic and certain administration functions that are now based there to be relocated to Pleasantville.

Among other highlights, phase 1A of the Pleasantville campus repositioning will include two new four-story residence halls that will contain a small dining facility, classrooms, study lounges and faculty apartments. A new campus green linked by pedestrian paths will be created, as will reconfigured parking that will be located away from the campus core.

Pace also plans to revitalize academic and administrative facilities at the Pleasantville campus, including an expanded Kessel Student Center to accommodate students relocating from Briarcliff. The school plans to build a new multipurpose field with artificial turf for football, soccer and lacrosse, along with improving the existing baseball field and building a new softball field at the southwest corner of the campus.

In a release, the university says it expects to complete these improvements over a period of five to eight years. The first phase will focus on creating the residential buildings and athletic facilities to replace those being vacated at the Briarcliff campus.

Subsequent phases of the project will be planned to minimize the impact on campus activities as well as the adjacent neighborhood. Additionally, a 115-acre wooded area on three sides of the campus will be undisturbed by the new construction, according to the release.

Brailsford & Dunlavey will manage the project. The architect is EYP Architecture and Engineering. The site engineer and landscape architect is Divney Tung Schwalbe, while the construction manager is Kirchhoff-Consigli.