STORRS — Plans to demolish nine buildings on UConn's South campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places have sparked concern among preservation advocates.

The nine largely abandoned houses are located on Gilbert Road in Storrs, known to many as "Faculty Row." A listing on the National Register of Historic Places does not prohibit demolition, but could make the houses eligible for protection.

"If it's on the National Register, it's there for a reason," said Margaret McCutcheon Faber, a member of Connecticut's Historic Preservation Council. "They are actually good buildings. They are not in serious disrepair. It's a lovely little place, like a respite."

Faber started an online petition against the demolition, which garnered more than 250 signatures.

UConn says that once the buildings come down and the parking lot is removed, the area will be replaced with a "park-like" green space, including grassy areas, plantings, trees, benches and tables.

"The fact something is old, by itself, does not make it historic," Laura Cruickshank, the university's master planner and chief architect, said in a statement. "Many of the buildings in the central campus are historic and must be preserved. The abandoned Greek Row houses are more of an eyesore taking up valuable space. It would be extremely costly to renovate them and even if we did, they would serve no useful purpose."

Cruickshank said the Faculty Row houses have lost their context because the original neighborhood is long gone, and they are surrounded by new buildings.

The houses were originally built around 1920 and used as faculty residences, but later housed fraternities and sororities or were used as office space. By 2003, students were moved out of the houses and relocated to Husky Village on Route 195, and most of the houses have been abandoned since then, university spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.

Reitz said most of the houses are in disrepair or uninhabitable due to their age, deteriorated condition and heavy use over time by student residents. It would cost the university about $9 million to renovate or rehabilitate the houses, at $1 million per house, she said.

The university has no use for the houses because the space inside them is very limited and, in some cases, is not code compliant, Reitz said.

The houses are listed under the National Register's "inventory of contributing resources" to a larger historic district, which includes much of UConn's central campus.

Paul Loether, chief of the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program, said buildings listed as "contributing" are historic, and a listed building is considered worthy of preservation.

Todd Levine, a state Department of Economic and Community Development architectural historian and environmental reviewer, said there is no question that the houses are listed as being historic. If they were old and not historic, they would be listed as non-contributing resources, he said.

"Frankly, these buildings are in much better conditions than others that we've saved," he said. "We've seen buildings in much worse condition being rehabilitated and put back in use."

UConn, however, does not concede that being listed on the register as a "contributing resource" makes it a candidate for preservation.

For instance, the former 1919-era School of Nursing building was also a "contributing factor" in the district, but was approved for removal in 1996, Reitz said. The Chemistry Building now sits on that spot.

The university entered into an agreement with the State Historic Preservation Office in June, allowing demolition of the houses but requiring mitigation to offset the historic loss. These require UConn to conduct a study that builds upon the existing UConn Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse Plan, specifically considering the potential adaptive reuse of UConn's historic buildings and sites, according to the agreement.

The university must record and photograph the houses in accordance with state standards before demolition, and must also provide a venue for a spring 2017 statewide symposium for municipal leaders to discuss best practices for historic preservation.

Levine said the State Historic Preservation Office conducted an environmental review of UConn's demolition plans, starting in the fall of 2015.

"We never want to lose historic buildings," he said. "The law states we have to work in good faith to come to a resolution, and there are three resolutions."

The resolutions are complete preservation, minimization or mitigation — preserving some of the buildings — to compensate for the loss of historic resources, Levine said. UConn stated that there was no possible way to retain all or some of the buildings, he said.

If there is large community support to preserve the buildings, the State Historic Preservation Office could investigate taking action to protect the buildings under Connecticut's Environmental Protection Act, Levine said. The state Historic Preservation Council would ultimately vote on whether to recommend action under CEPA to the state attorney general, he said.

Mike Widmer said he spent his childhood living in one of the Faculty Row houses in the 1950s, as his mother served as the School of Nursing's first dean. Widmer, who now lives in the Boston area, said the buildings are a "gem" in the center of campus and it would be a shame to demolish them.

"In the end, if they are demolished, surely some future administration will decide this is too tempting and they need more buildings and will put them there," he said. "Even if the current intention is to leave green space, that's not the final chapter. This is really the moment to take a serious look at preservation and reuse in some fashion."