Ohio University will take on $20 million in debt to fund two construction projects — chilled water upgrades and the stalled Scripps College of Communication project.
The Board of Trustees voted Friday to move forward with the projects by funding them partially through debt. The proposed new home of the college, which will be called the Schoonover Center for Communication, has been in the works since 2005 and should be completed by early 2014 now that there is funding, said Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration.
“It is in all of our interests to complete the project as expeditiously as possible,” Golding said.
The debt for the projects will be issued sometime in January or February, he added.
The Schoonover Center will cost $19 million to complete, but almost $5 million has been collected from the fiscal year 2007–08 state capital improvement bill and private donations.
Previously, the project was expected to cost $18 million, but the budget was increased because of a lack in state appropriations, equipment failure in early renovation and inflation, according to the resolution.
“Consolidation of the Scripps College of Communication into the former Baker Center at College and Union Streets has been identified as a high priority project in the long range facility master plan,” states a letter from Golding to the Board of Trustees regarding the resolution.
Expanding OU’s chilled water service will create a more efficient network; with a unified network, water can be chilled at half the price, according to the resolution.
“As stand-alone chillers reach the end of their useful life, conversion to central chilled water for those buildings is the preferred method of replacement,” Golding’s letter states.
An expansion in centralized chilled water will be necessary to provide water to the Schoonover Center and future projects, according to the letter.
The chilled water expansion project will cost $6 million, and the university will fund the entire project by taking on debt.
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