Curators approve major capital projects for planning and development

Each campus provides priorities, funding strategies for future capital projects.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri Board of Curators today approved major capital projects from every campus, allowing the projects to move forward for further planning and development. The new capital planning process, approved by curators in September 2017, will allow additional time to fundraise for projects and work with the Missouri legislature.

“With the decline in state funding and restrictions on tuition, our budgets have been balanced, in part, by delaying improvements to many of our facilities across the four campuses,” Board of Curators Finance Committee Chair David Steelman said. “This is the first step in our capital planning process. This will allow us to have an informed capital plan that is driven by our strategic priorities for each campus. We take our stewardship of the financial resources entrusted to us very seriously. These projects will help us educate the future leaders of our state and nation.”

Following Board approval, the UM System will evaluate and prioritize each project into an overall strategy while keeping in mind funding capacity. At the March 2018 Board of Curators Finance Committee meeting, the campuses will present their updated capital plans for review, and the System will provide the overall capital project priority plan for review.

Examples of priority projects for each campus include:

University of Missouri-Columbia
Translational Precision Medicine Complex
(project was approved by the board as the highest priority)

Project Cost: $150 million
The TPMC will integrate multidisciplinary laboratory space with analytical instrumentation, computational process, and “pilot scale” manufacturing in a single building.

University of Missouri Health Care
Women’s and Children’s Hospital Exterior

• Project Cost: $15 million
• The exterior of the building has exceeded its life expectancy and is showing signs of deterioration. The project will remove and replace exterior building components, including metal panels, flashing, insulation, windows, etc.

University of Missouri-Kansas City
Conservatory of Music & Dance

• Project Cost: TBD
• The Conservatory is the fourth oldest in the country. A new building will allow the conservatory to expand from 500 to 620 students (24 percent increase) in areas such as vocal and instrumental performance, composition, music theory and musicology, dance, music education and music therapy.

Missouri University of Science and Technology
Schrenk Hall Biosciences Complex Addition and Renovation

• Project Cost: $54 million
• This is the final phase of a three-phase project that will renovate 40,000 square feet of the west wing and add 90,400 square feet to the east wing. The facility will accommodate the chemistry and biological sciences departments and support students studying for careers in health professions, industry, government and education.

University of Missouri-St. Louis
Space Consolidation and Infrastructure

• Project Cost: $16 million
• The project will consolidate underutilized space throughout campus and provide repairs to campus buildings and infrastructure. As a result, some departments will relocate on campus, improving collaboration among academic units.

“This new process ensures that our Board, as the University’s governing body, has input at the earliest stages of capital planning,” UM System President Mun Choi said. “This will ensure that our campus and health system projects align with our mission, long-term strategy and financial plan while also providing a valuable return on investment.”

-30-