Shovel-Ready Projects

What follows is a small sampling of the numerous higher education projects that could be ready for construction within the next three to six months.

A Sampling of Projects

These projects are not fully funded. An investment of Federal dollars could make these projects possible, adding millions of immediate and long-term jobs, while helping to build our knowledge economy.

Phoenix Biomedical Center

The city of Phoenix is one of the only major cities in America without an academic medical center. The site shown to the left is the location for the new Phoenix Biomedical Center – a project which will fill this void while employing thousands of people and creating an economic engine for this major metropolitan area.

Shovel-Ready Date: April 2009
Construction Value: $470,000,000

The Phoenix Biomedical Campus (PBC) is a combined vision of the City of Phoenix, Arizona Board of Regents, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. This project will focus on the education of healthcare professionals, related biomedical research and the application of clinical care.

• Economic impact studies estimate that the PBC will rank among Arizona’s leading economic engines by 2025; the
  campus has the potential to generate between $1.1 billion $2.1 billion in annual economic impact for the State of Arizona.
• The Phoenix Biomedical Campus has the potential to generate between 14,653 and 24,074 jobs for Arizona residents by 2025.
• The campus has the opportunity to generate between $60 million and $110.2 million annually in state government revenue by 2025 (direct and indirect).
• It is estimated that the estimated $470 million Phase 2 of the PBC project will generate 2,500 construction jobs.
• When completed it will employ 500 faculty and staff and provide educational services for up to 3,000 students
  per year. 8

8 TRIPP UMBACH. “ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY.” NO DATE.

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

Discovery Center
Shovel-Ready Date: July 2009
Construction Value: $66.7 million

The Discovery Center project presents an exciting opportunity for the North Carolina School of Science and Math to provide additional teaching and support spaces in order to accommodate the School’s future growth. The Campus Master Plan, completed in October 2008, provides the framework for this expansion to the campus and envisioned the Discovery Center Project as one of multiple building additions located in the vicinity of the historic Watts building. These additions – at Reynolds East, Hill East, Hill West, and Bryan North – would provide new or renovated spaces for laboratories, classrooms, dining services, dormitory rooms, faculty offices, student lounge, and the library.

A major renovation to all floors of Bryan North and ground floor Bryan West is anticipated as well as minor renovation work to Hill in order to accommodate the expansions. A programming effort was undertaken which resulted in program needs of approximately 200,000 gsf of new construction and 77,000 gsf of renovation. A cost estimate prepared for the master plan anticipated construction costs for the project of approximately $70M.

University of Alaska, Anchorage

Health Sciences Facility Phase 1
Shovel-Ready Date: June 2009
Construction Value: $46 million

The first phase of the Health Sciences Center is a 64,000 sf building that will bring Nursing, Allied Health, and WWAMI (medical school) programs together fostering a collaborative, interdisciplinary teaching/ learning environment. This facility is planned to house state of the art high fidelity simulation labs so that prospective Nurses, Physician Assistants and Physicians can work side-by-side in life – like scenarios in a controlled simulation environment. In addition to providing space for academic and academic support, the facility will serve as a health science resource to the community, regional medical centers, and the university system. This facility is the first phase of a multi-phased project that expands to include therapies (occupational, physical, massage), pharmacy, paramedic training, medical assisting, and medical imaging. All these disciplines will provide integrated high fidelity simulation to emulate real experiences.

University of Georgia

Science Teaching Facility
Shovel-Ready Date: July 2009
Construction Value: $49.5 million

One of the key points in UGA’s Strategic Plan is to increase the quality of undergraduate instruction in science. Current teaching laboratory and instructional space in the sciences are deficient from both a quantity and quality standpoint. The complex of buildings in which laboratory instruction is concentrated – Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Physics – is approximately 50 years old. These facilities are nearing the end of their effective life cycles, are increasingly expensive and time-consuming to maintain, and are no longer adequate to accommodate modern instructional laboratory teaching methods. In fact, enrollment in several science majors is currently capped due to a lack of instructional laboratory space for basic science classes. This capping has a snowball effect, imposing severe limits on UGA’s capacity to increase its overall undergraduate and graduate enrollments.

The Science Teaching Facility will contain approximately 95,000 square feet of instructional space, the majority of which will be comprised of teaching laboratories for science classes. The facility also will increase the quality of undergraduate instruction in the sciences and ease current enrollment bottlenecks. This strategic new facility will provide state of the art teaching spaces, will promote collaborative learning, and will also allow the institution to address deferred maintenance issues in 5 adjacent buildings. The renovation of these core sciences buildings, that are 50 years old, will allow the University to update to LEED building standards. This level of renovation will save diminishing resources, such as water, energy, and improve air quality. The amount of savings will be in excess of 35% of the existing building’s energy consumption.

Texas State University San Marcos

Undergraduate Academic Center (UAC)
Shovel-Ready Date: September 2009
Construction Value: $40.4 million

The 129,000 gsf Undergraduate Academic Center is planned to become a campus gateway building that will be a main pedestrian entry to the campus while providing state-of-the-art classroom facilities, house academic tutoring labs for student athletes as well as departmental offices. The hilltop nature of the site will make the UAC visible for miles around the site, and will become an iconic image for the campus. The facility is being designed with sustainability at the forefront, with emphasis on dramatically reducing the amounts of energy and water consumption over the life of the building, along with utilizing large percentages of recycled materials in construction.

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