Campuses must make tough calls on new buildings

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Nevada's colleges need more than $320 million from the state in 2005 to pay for priority capital improvement projects.

But the most they can expect to get is $100 million, said Jane Nichols, chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

The state usually has about $150 million in bond money set aside for all capital improvement projects for state buildings, Nichols said, and the system must compete with other state entities for their part of the pie.

"UCCSN gets two-thirds on a good year and about 50 percent on a normal year," Nichols said, addressing members of the Board of Regents budget and finance committee. "Our needs are far greater than our funding from the state."

This means that system presidents and regents must prioritize. Trimming the list is a daunting prospect when many of the projects involve renovations of aging buildings and additions of such basics as fire sprinklers and electrical infrastructure, regents said.

Presidents for each of Nevada's institutions shared their top priorities with university regents Thursday. Nichols said she will be meeting with all of the presidents to come up with one list for the regents, who will hear the chancellor's proposal in March.

"The list will be frightening," Nichols predicted.

The $320 million needed is in addition to institutional money or private donations already committed to the more than $500 million needed for the 38 priority projects. The projects include new buildings, renovations, minor repairs and improvements and, in the case of Nevada State College, a whole new campus.

The projects will be prioritized based on several different factors, including the cost, need, health and safety issues, prior state funding, renewal of infrastructure and the amount of outside money contributed to the project.

To ease cash flow, many of the listed projects are also only single phases of a larger capital improvement project. The state gives greater priority to projects in the last stages, such as requests for furniture, fixtures and equipment for soon-to-be-completed buildings.

Buildings at that stage include the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' science, engineering and technology building, the University of Nevada, Reno's Knowledge Center, and the Community College of Southern Nevada's health sciences building, which jointly need $28.3 million to open.

Presidents for UNLV, UNR, CCSN, Great Basin College, Western Nevada Community College and Truckee Meadows Community College all requested money for major infrastructure renovations, specifically for the installation of fire sprinklers or electrical wiring, to the tune of $74.9 million.

Nevada State College President Kerry Romesburg limited his requests to the campus's main needs: $2.5 million to complete the college's first liberal arts building, $4.5 million to purchase and renovate the old warehouse it is currently leasing and $1 million to begin planning a nursing and science building.

The 2-year-old college exceeded its projected student enrollment this year.

"If we don't expeditiously build out this campus, we are going to run out of room very, very rapidly," Romesburg told the committee.

Another key project on the capital improvement list is a new building to house the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, for which the Greenspun family, owners of the Las Vegas Sun, have donated $12 million. UNLV needs another $18 million from the state to complete the project, President Carol Harter said.

UNLV also requested $9.5 million for a student services addition and $500,000 toward designing a new regional campus in North Las Vegas.

High on CCSN's list is a new campus learning center/library at the West Charleston campus. The center, estimated to cost $25 million, would be the first real library at any community college campus, interim president Paul Gianini said. The college is also requesting $20 million for a new automotive technology building and $12 million for a Pahrump educational complex.

The Desert Research Institute needs about $12.5 million for a cave automated virtual environment facility, which allows researches to simulate scenarios such as a desert landscape, wildland fire or the human heart, President Stephen Wells said.