Recordpub.com - $200 million in renovations eyed for KSU

By Matt Fredmonsky

Record-Courier staff writer

The most comprehensive facelift Kent State University’s main campus has seen in nearly 40 years could be under way in early 2010 at a cost of nearly $200 million.

The KSU Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve the issuance of up to $200 million in general receipt bonds to construct new buildings and renovate many of the existing facilities on the Kent campus.

KSU President Lester Lefton said the plan so far prioritizes issues on campus by focusing on health and safety first before addressing the “student experience” and, finally, aesthetics.

“Now’s the time to do it,” Lefton said. “The bond market is the most favorable bond market we’ve seen in recent history.”

No final decisions have yet been made on what buildings will be constructed where or which labs will be first on the list for infrastructure and technological upgrades. But the plan calls solely for work on academic and office facilities and excludes dormitories.

Trustees could vote in early 2010 on a more specific facilities plan for the campus, Lefton said.

“Which would be much more detailed saying we would build this, knock this down ... and know exactly how much it will all cost,” he said.

Lefton said the plan to renovate much of the Kent campus was included in an analysis conducted by an outside firm to address deferred maintenance issues and capital improvements over the university’s entire eight-campus system. The estimated cost to update the regional and Kent campuses is a combined $353 million.

However, tops on the list for new construction and renovation in Kent is likely a new facility for the recently created College of Public Health. The plan also calls for immediate action on the existing art, architecture and science buildings, Lefton said.

“But those are not the only priorities,” he said.

Lefton said the nature of the bond market essentially requires immediate action, but the construction efforts are expected to be under way in various capacities for the next three to five years.

Aside from the bonds, additional funding for the capital improvements and renovations is expected to come from a fee charged to students.

Patrick Mullin, chairman of the university’s trustee board, said the fee associated with the construction and renovation would likely be a new fee implemented on incoming freshmen.

“My gut tells me it would probably be a new fee,” he said.

Mullin said the last campus-wide construction effort on as large a scale took place in the late 1960s. He added the university trustees have been discussing this plan for several years.

Mullin said the next step is for the university to begin the design phase, choose buildings for renovation and approach the bond market in January for funding.

“This has been very high on our agenda,” he said. “We are certainly just beginning down this path.”