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Trafton final phase is top priority on MnSCU list

Capital budget request

Completing the final phase of the Trafton Science Center proj­ect remains the top priority among MnSCU capital budget requests.

2007-06-25
By Robb Murray, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN [6/22/2007]

Completing the final phase of Minnesota State University’s monstrous Trafton Science Center proj­ect remains the top priority among MnSCU projects.

The priority list of the 2008 capital budget request from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities was released Thursday. Topping the list, as always, was $110 million for repair and replacement of facilities.

After that the list runs down projects at individual institutions, and MSU’s Trafton project, priced at $25.5 million (with $17 million in requested general obligation bonding), is far and away the biggest project. Following Trafton is the renovation of the Brown Science Hall, a $14.8 million project at St. Cloud State University.

The Trafton project has been MnSCU’s biggest and costliest project ever. The building houses roughly 30 percent of all credit hours taught at MSU, making it the biggest workhorse of any aca­demic building in the system.

If the final $17 million (in bonding) is approved, that will complete the three- phase buildup of Trafton, which included the initial planning phase, the addition phase and the renova­tion phase.

No other MSU projects are on the list, nor are any proj­ects at South Central College.

In total, MnSCU is asking for $ 271 million from the Legislature next year for con­struction and remodeling proj­ects across the state. The Board of Trustees Wednesday approved the list, which includes 37 projects that will be submitted for funding.

The request is for $271 mil­lion in general obligation bond financing with $76.3 million in debt service financed by the system and its institutions, bringing the total project authorization to $347.3 mil­lion.

MnSCU says the projects were selected from more than $500 million in requests sub­mitted by the system’s institu­tions. In January, teams of rep­resentatives from the campus­es and system office scored the proposals.

For more Free Press news go to www.mankatofreepress.com.

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