TUCSON - The Arizona Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved an ASU lease agreement with the Brickyard on Mill that will lead to the relocation of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
The department will occupy about 130,000 square feet of space at the location on 699 S. Mill Ave. Of that space, more than 34,000 square feet will be used for research labs, with faculty offices and classrooms receiving a combined total of 51 million square feet.
"This is an opportunity for us to greatly expand our academic and research facilities in our computer sciences," said Mernoy Harrison, ASU executive vice president of administration and finance.
The project would cost $7 million, Harrison said, and would use funds previously earmarked for a postponed renovation of the Memorial Union.
The deal made a late re-entry onto the Regents agenda after having been removed two weeks before the meeting.
"We weren't finished with the lease terms, and we wanted to wait until we had them completed until it went on the agenda," Harrison said.
As an incentive to finish the deal, landlord BYTV Holdings gave ASU a $1.9 million tenant improvement allowance. ASU will also receive free rent for the first three months of the deal, bringing the average rent for the five-year lease down to less than 22 dollars per square foot.
"When you can get the right facility, at the right place, at the right time, without much money, it's a good decision," said Regents member Gary Stuart.
ASU President Michael Crow said the Brickyard deal was a "very high priority" for ASU.
"A number of programs in the departments need our computer science department to be wildly successful for them to have access to the kind of technology and capability that a world-class computer science department would have," Crow said.
Construction will start in May, and the facility is planned to be ready for the fall semester. Harrison said it would be about two years faster to lease the property than to erect a new building.
The move will also free up between 37,000 to 40,000 square feet in the Goldwater Building and the Engineering Center G-Wing. Although Harrison said no definite plans have been made for this space, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are the most likely future occupants, according to the Regents agenda.
Will ASU benefit from its leased space in the Brickyard? Post your opinion in the forum below.
Reach the reporter at garrett.neese@asu.edu.
Reporter Jeff Hoodzow contributed to this article.
