Trustees vote on campus construction, scoreboard

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Locations across campus might be unrecognizable come fall semester, as numerous renovation projects are on the MSU Board of Trustees’ agenda for its meeting Friday.

The board is expected to vote on whether to proceed with projects to create an engagement center in McDonel Hall, similar to the centers in Brody and Hubbard halls.

Proposed renovation to the Union’s first floor and construction for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, and Spartan Stadium scoreboards also are expected to come up for a vote.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. in Administration Building, Room 401.

Seeking authorization
If approved, the McDonel Hall engagement center will provide students in the River Trail Neighborhood with a health center, meeting spaces and other services, according to a memo from MSU Vice President for Finance and Operations Fred Poston.

The project is budgeted for $5.5 million with money sourced from Residential and Hospitality Services and the university general fund. Construction is slated to begin in May, according to the memo, and substantial completion of the project for student use is expected in August.

Trustee George Perles said when renovations are done, they are in the students’ best interest.

“The students are the most important thing,” he said. “We want to have the best in everything we can give them.”

Changes to the first floor of the Union also is on the board’s docket. Renovations there will include upgraded interiors on the first floor and main lounge, and adjustments to the floor’s retail spots, according to board documents. An information desk also is planned to be built to incorporate the U.S. Post Office.

The Union’s project is budgeted for $2.4 million. Construction is scheduled to follow McDonel Hall’s schedule, with completion slated for August.

Packaging sophomore Austin Aiello said he looks forward to seeing the final project.

“It’s pretty much nice how it is now, but the project looks cool,” he said.

FRIB construction
University engineer Bob Nestle said the first significant work for the FRIB is set to begin next month if trustees give approval Friday.

The project involves excavation on the site, relocation of some utilities and other efforts and is expected to be substantially complete by June 2015. Nestle said FRIB’s construction of the beam used to discover the properties of rare isotopes is underground.

“Essentially, the important part of FRIB is down in a very deep hole,” he said.

The $20 million project will be funded by Department of Energy Office of Science, state appropriations and MSU itself, according to board documents.

Many called the facility’s funding into question earlier this month when Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu could not commit to the status of funding for the $600 million total FRIB project.

But others have said the funding is a non-issue as the federal budget is not yet set and the federal funding process happens every year.

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