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WSU plans major construction projects

May 18, 2009, 1:26 pm

Washington State University lobbyist Larry Ganders said the university’s 2009-2011 capital budget will fund major projects.

He said the state capital budget that Gov. Chris Gregoire signed Friday afternoon authorizes WSU to spend $196.8 million in construction projects.

“It is the best capital budget that WSU has had in several years,” he said.

The university’s capital budget will fund the WSU Vancouver Applied Technology Classroom Building.

“That was our highest priority,” he said, adding that the estimated cost to complete the project is about $38 million.

Under the capital budget the university has been authorized to use $36.7 million in a combination of state and institutional bonds, Ganders said.

He said out of the $36.7 million, $26.7 will come from state bonding authority and $10 million will come from institutional bonding authority.

Construction on the Vancouver project will begin by the end of the year, he said.

The capital budget will also fund the Veterinary Medical Research Building and the Global Animal Health Building at the Pullman campus as well as the Riverpoint Biomedical and Health Science Building at WSU Spokane.

But not everything in the capital budget was good news. A couple of medium-size projects did not receive any attention, Ganders said.

For example, the university did not receive any of the $3.5 million that was requested to fix the ventilation system at Sloan Hall, he said.

“Sloan (Hall) is one disappointment,” Ganders said.


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