Large projects in EMU's future

By Dan DuChene
Nov. 18, 2008    ·    5:59 p.m.

About an hour before officially breaking ground at Mark-Jefferson, Eastern Michigan University unveiled its plans for its next large project.

John Donegan, associate vice president of facilities for EMU presented a proposed budget and time frame for the Pray-Harrold modernization project. Expected to cost $42 million, Donegan said the plan is to “put a shovel in the ground a year from today.

“That’s pretty aggressive,” Donegan told the EMU regents during their meeting today. “We’re really on a fast track here and we’re doing it deliberately.”

The university has already sent out a request for qualifications and narrowed a field of 14 responses. A request for proposals will be sent out to seven of the respondents by the end of the month, with a selection expected before the end of the year.

Built in 1967, the 237,108 square-foot building has not received a renovation like this since its construction. Donegan said Pray-Harrold, which houses many of EMU’s departments and classes, is under-powered electrically and antiquated with its space, layout and technology.

Architectural and modernization costs are estimated to make up $6.5 million of the total budget.

The university will only have to pick up 25 percent of the total cost of the project due to a 75 percent match through a state capital outlay bill. Donegan said the university received payment from the state in late September.

The lion’s share the work will be done to the building’s mechanical and electrical infrastructure, at $17.8 million. This portion of the project includes heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical work.

The second largest portion of the project will by improvements for the university’s IT Data Center, which handles computer and networking for the school. Located in the basement of the building, $2.7 million will be invested in a back-up diesel generator and re-cabling.

Increased voltage and a new cooling system are also proposed for the data center, but it is unclear if these costs are included in mechanical and electrical upgrades.

The outside of the building will be repaired and restored for $2.5 million and $1.5 million will be invested in the building’s life-safety systems.

Other campus projects
These details were announce the day EMU broke ground on its $90 million project to renovate its science building, Mark-Jefferson.

Money to pay for the Mark-Jefferson project will be raised by issuing bonds. A 4 percent increase in tuition and fees, approved by the regents in 2005, will go toward paying back the bonds issued.

“These are some of the largest projects this campus has seen in a long time,” Donegen said. “We’re going to have to get creative with the swing space.”

In actuality, the university set aside $750,000 of the Pray-Harrold project’s money for relocation costs.

Tom Sidlik, the regents’ chair, said, “We have a lot on our plate.”

Sidlik compared the state of having several large projects to when he came to the university as a regent in 2004 and there “was nothing on our plate.

“We’ve come a long way, I would say, in the past four years,” he said.

Ground broke on the $40.5 million EMU Student Center in Sept. 2004.

The regent’s also unanimously approved a $38 million project to restore a second EMU science building, Strong today.

The project would only occur if the state includes the project in this year’s Capital Outlay Bill. If passed, the university would only pay 25 percent of the cost to restore the nearly 41-year-old, 87,500 sqaure-foot building.

The project would tie in to the Mark-Jefferson reconstruction, as plans include connecting the two near by science buildings.

The university said work could start on the project next year, if the bill is approved the state.