GUILDERLAND — The State University of New York Polytechnic Institute’s expansion proposal plan, released last week, was met with concern by residents of McKownville, who worry that the expansion will eventually reach their neighborhood.

A development company purchased 11 homes on Loughlin Street, which borders McKownville, and, according to the expansion plan, the homes would be demolished to make space for a parking lot.

This week, a press release detailing 10 facts about the university’s “plans to pursue student housing” was released by the Jerry Gretzinger, the vice president of strategic communications and public relations.

Gretzinger did not return calls or e-mails from The Enterprise seeking comment this week or last.

Donald Reeb, the head of the McKownville Improvement Association and a former professor at the state’s University of Albany, said this week, “In academia, this would be what we call a non-response.”

Reeb has complained for months, since the houses on Loughlin Street were purchased, about SUNY Poly not being forthcoming with its plans.

The plan, said the release, was sent to eight local governmental agencies and municipalities, as required by New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act. In addition, it said, “This process ensures full transparency and openness.”

The release said that Fuller Road Management Corporation, the lead on the project, is not required to use a request for proposal process because the project does not use state funding, but, that it is choosing to do so to secure the best “financial and economic return on investment for it and its stakeholders.”

The Fuller Road Management Corporation complied with all of the request for proposal rules, it said, and the solicitation for proposals was published in the Times Union newspaper for one week in March. Twenty-seven firms expressed interest and the Fuller Road Management Corporation asked for proposals from each one, without giving preferential treatment, said the release.

The request for proposal criteria did require a “local developer” and that the housing be “within a 10-minute walk” but the release said those requirements “are logical and consistent with what numerous other educational institutions do.”

Only one firm out of the 27 chose to actually submit a proposal because some of the firms could not meet one or more of the criteria, according to the release.

Fuller Road Management Corporation and SUNY Poly “make their selections based purely on merit and are neither privy to nor aware of political donations,” said the release.

The financing of housing projects, it said, is done through student housing payments. The release said the charge that a developer paid “well above market rate” to buy the homes on Loughlin Street would be a decision between the developer and the homeowners, and has no bearing on the university’s housing plans.

“It is disingenuous to suggest that prior to the advent of SUNY Poly, Loughlin Street was a quiet residential area far removed from any type of academic or economic development activity,” said the release. It referred to the Freedom Quad, less than one-quarter mile from the street, which houses hundreds of students and used to serve as a training camp for the New York Giants. It also spoke of the state University at Albany’s Empire Commons, across Western Avenue from Loughlin Street, and the amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic generated by people going to and from Stuyvesant Plaza.

Reed, on this point, said, “That’s just wrong.” It was, he said, a quiet and residential side street.

“Finally, it should be noted that, at present, FRMC’s housing proposal is exactly that: a proposal and nothing more,” read the last “fact” in the press release. There is no contract or agreement at this time. The Fuller Road Management Corporation may choose to move forward with the one bidder if “a financially viable agreement can be reached,” it said.

“I don’t know if this has anything of merit in it,” said Reeb. He said it contained nothing responding to his concerns about expansion into McKownville.

“They are just not trying to be very good neighbors,” he said of SUNY Poly.