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Trustees approve construction of on-campus fuel station, renovations at Brody Complex

January 25, 2013

At Friday morning’s Board of Trustees meeting, a number of on-campus construction plans and projects were approved by the board, including moving and rebuilding the on-campus fuel station, furthering construction plans to residence halls and renovating Munn Ice Arena.

The trustees unanimously approved projects to relocate and construct an on-campus fuel station and reconstruct Butterfield Hall. The board also unanimously approved steps in renovation projects for Akers Hall and Munn Ice Arena.

“Some of the buildings are so old, they’re almost 100 years old,” Trustee Faylene Owen said. “They’re falling apart, falling down, it’s not safe. And we are trying to make it safe as we can.”

Construction of the new fuel station and car wash would begin in April, with substantial completion by April 2014 and full completion slated for August 2015. MSU currently has a fuel station at Spartan Stadium, but it is being moved because of concerns from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The gas station and car wash facility only will be for university vehicles, said Ron Flinn, Physical Plant assistant vice president. It would be moved from its current location near Spartan Stadium to Service Road. It is being moved for safety reasons deemed by Homeland Security, he said.

Building the new station will cost $4.8 million.

“The large fuel tanks that are below the stadium, when you think of what could happen to the seventy some thousand people in the stadium if some terrible person were to ignite and combust the fuel to explode, (we) would have a huge tragedy on our hands,” Flinn said.

The trustees also approved paying $11.9 million to DeMaria Construction Company for construction and renovations at Butterfield Hall.

The renovations would consist of mechanical, ventilation and electrical upgrades and revamping of the common rooms, bathrooms and plumbing system.

This project is a part of the “master plan” to revamp all of the buildings in Brody Complex, which was approved by the board in 2008. Under the plan, all of the buildings were to be renovated within the next six to eight years.

At the meeting, Vice President for Auxiliary Enterprises Vennie Gore said this is the last residence hall in the complex to be renovated, and construction is slated to begin in May 2013 and be completed by June 2014. The building will be closed down to students during construction.

“Brody’s the most popular place on the planet now,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said just after the vote.

Permission to plan renovations of Akers Hall also was unanimously approved at the meeting. The project will completely revamp the dining hall and serving area and improve mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems up to the safety code requirements. The preliminary cost of the project is $20 million, according to the meeting agenda.

Gore said this plan will close the dining hall in May 2014 and open it in June 2015 during the reconstruction period.

The board also approved an item to begin planning renovations at Munn Ice Arena to make it energy efficient. The plan will involve changes to the arena’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and would replace its current ice-making system.

“The fuel system in this building is well beyond the normal life,” Flinn said. “It’s nearly 40 years old, and if it fails, we would not have ice.”

According to the meeting agenda, the preliminary cost of this project tentatively is set at $6.5 million.

Flinn said the plan is up for a vote to proceed in June, with construction tentatively set to begin in September. The construction of this project will depend on the timing of the 2013-14 hockey season, he said.

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