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April 4, 2003

Trustees award Discovery Park, housing construction contracts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees today (Friday, 4/4) awarded construction and related contracts for the Bindley Bioscience Center, Discovery Park utilities extension, the next phase of Cary Quadrangle renovations and a student housing complex at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

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In other action, the trustees also approved the sale of a parcel of land in northern Indiana.

The trustees approved awarding the Bindley Bioscience Center construction contract of $11.95 million to Weigland Construction Co. Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind. Construction on the 50,000-square-foot structure in Discovery Park is scheduled to begin in April and be finished by June 2005.

Research laboratories in the center will be unusual in that they will be flexible; multidisciplinary teams of researchers will be able to change the labs to suit specific projects. The center will connect researchers in the life sciences with engineers in the Birck Nanotechnology Center, also being built at Discovery Park. The park also will house the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

The board also approved the $5.2 million Phase II utility project to extend water lines, electrical and telecommunications lines, sewers, and tunnels to the park's State Street location.

In other action, the trustees approved $7 million for upgrading Cary Quadrangle Northwest's interior room arrangements to create larger, double-occupancy rooms with semiprivate baths, air conditioning and modern telecommunications. The project also calls for renovating the basement recreational lounge and adding space for a student-operated radio station. Kettlehut Construction Inc. was low bidder on the construction at $5.9 million.

This work is the fourth phase of the $43.5 million, six-phase, six-year plan to renovate Cary Quad, a five-building complex. When renovations are completed, Cary Quad's housing capacity will be 1,135 students. The quad currently has about 1,540 residents.

The renovation, funded by bonds that will be repaid from residents' housing fees, will not involve tax dollars or general student fees and will be completed in 2006. Purdue University Residences is self-supporting.

The trustees approved a $25.5 million budget for a student housing complex at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The construction contract for $17.55 million was awarded to MW Builders, Overland Park, Kan. The remaining $7.95 million in the budget will cover other costs such as design fees, electronic backbone for the computer system, consulting fees, and furniture and equipment.

The complex, with a total of 568 beds, will consist of 220 four-bedroom, two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments, and will be the first residential facility at Purdue's regional campuses.

The complex will be located on Crescent Avenue, northeast of the campus, and will be connected by a pedestrian overpass already under construction. The housing complex is scheduled to be completed by fall 2004.

The trustees also approved the sale of Pinney Field – 65 acres of farmland the state of Indiana owns in LaPorte and Porter counties for the use and benefit of Purdue. The land was formerly used as an experimental field but was closed in the late 1990s. While Purdue is the "beneficial owner" of the property, the sale also requires the governor's approval since official title to the real estate is in the name of the state.

Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu

Sources: Kenneth P. Burns, (765) 494-970, kpburns@purdue.edu

Wayne W. Kjonaas, (765) 494-8000, wwknonaas@purdue.edu

Walter Branson, IPFW vice chancellor for financial affairs, (260) 481-6804

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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