A new business school facility is pending approval from the state Legislature after being given a unanimous green light by the Arizona Board of Regents at a meeting last week.
The new building, which is estimated to cost about $57 million, will be the first new facility for the W.P. Carey School since 1984, said Morgan Olsen from ASU’s Office of Business and Finance at Thursday’s ABOR meeting. The Business Administration and Business Administration C Wing buildings currently make up the school’s complex on the Tempe campus. The new facility would be constructed on the east side of the complex.
ASU is the only top 25 business school that has not had a new facility built in such a long period, Olsen said.
“This top 25 school won't stay in the top 25 without a new building,” Regent Ernest Calderón said during ABOR's discussion of the proposed facility. Calderón went on to qualify his statement by explaining that rankers look at many factors when making their lists, including quality of facilities.
ASU is requesting $54 million in revenue bonds to build the new facility. It has already received $17 million in gifts, part of which has already gone toward the renovation of a new patio between the two existing business school buildings and part of which has gone to pay architectural fees. These payments make up 3 percent of the predicted total expenditures.
Pending approval from the Joint Committee on Capital Review, the new building will begin construction later this fall. It is expected to be finished in June 2013 and classes inside the building will begin fall 2013.
"The new facility is primarily for classrooms,” said Robert Mittelstaedt, dean of the W.P. Carey School. “We've had a huge increase in the number of students and need more room.”
During the ABOR meeting, Olsen cited said enrollment at the business school has increased 20 percent since the last buildings were constructed. This new facility will be primarily used for graduate management classes and honors programs.
JCCR discussed the new construction at a meeting on Wednesday but the committee will not be voting on it until later in the week.
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter
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