By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The BGSU Board of Trustees approve a plan that will finish up the work on the new Technology Engineering Innovation Center sooner, and for a dramatically lower price.
Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll told the trustees Friday that April Smucker, associate vice president, planning, construction and campus operations, and her team identified ways to get phases two and three of the project started at the same time.
Currently an addition is being built on the south end of the building. That was projected to cost $30 million.
The next two phases would involve renovation to the east end of the structure, and the demolition of the west part of the building. By doing those two stages together it will save additional money.
Stoll said the initial estimate was that the entire project would cost $40 million. Now it will cost $33 million, and be ready in the fall, 2026.
Moser Construction, which is now building the addition, will complete the rest of the work.
The trustees approved the completion of the final two phases for $5 million.
The money will come from the $3 million in state funds appropriated for phase 1, and $2 million in donor contributions.
The donors have been identified, but the details are not final, Stoll said. Pamela Conlin, vice president for university advancement, nodded in agreement.
This was one of several pieces of business related to capital spending.
Synthetic turf for FMB practice site & Steller Field
The trustees also approved the installation of synthetic turf at Steller Field, where the varsity baseball team plays, and a field near the field house which is used for Falcon Marching Band practices as well as intramural soccer.
The plan would also include building a tower and installing lights. The lights would greatly increase the use of the field, Stoll said.
In a conversation on WBGU-FM’s “The Morning Show,” Band Director Jon Watters said that the synthetic turf field is needed because the band now cannot practice when the field is wet because marching on the site turns it into a mud pit in very little time.
The band practice field would cost $2,75,000
The synthetic turf would improve playing conditions for the baseball team. It has a $2,225,000 price tag.
Stoll said the source of the $5 million has not been identified.
The band has a fundraiser going to help pay for the project. That has raised $700,000 in cash and pledges.
There’s $327,249 on hand in cash in pledges to support the Steller Field improvements.
Stoll urged the trustees approve the project even without the money in hand because it will help with fundraising. The project will not go forward until the money is raised.
Kreischer Quad getting new chill
Trustees also approved $1.5 million to hook up Kreischer Quad onto a centralized water chiller.
The building now has a chiller to service the Sundial. That chiller is inadequate in warmer months, and is in danger of failing.
Doing the work would prevent having to spend money to repair the out-of-date chiller. The new connection would allow air conditioning to be added to the building in the future when it is renovated, which is now being considered.
No date has been set on that project.
Kreischer is now full, in part because Kohl Hall is undergoing renovation.
Despite lacking air conditioning, Kreischer remains popular with students, Stoll said, because of its proximity to the Recreation Center and other athletic facilities, the buildings in the Arts Corridor, and parking lots.
New hook up for Offenhauer
The trustees also approved $1.5 million to switch the electrical load center for Offenhauer from McLeod Hall to the Falcon Heights load center.
The equipment in McLeod Hall is over 50 years old and parts are no longer available.
