Colleges get $129m to build on

Infrastructure repair, new facilities planned

Local community college officials and administrators at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell are hoping their schools will be among the first to cash in on the state's promise to pay for capital improvements to the Commonwealth's public institutions of higher education.

State leaders earlier this month earmarked more than $129 million for campuses in this region as part of a sweeping investment in campus construction across the Commonwealth. Many of the projects are still years away, but legislative approval securing a commitment from the state to fund them is an important hurdle.

Among the projects that received promises of funding are several that have long topped local wish lists, including a new performing arts space for the Middlesex Community College campus in Lowell, a new academic building on UMass Lowell's South Campus, and a state-of-the-art Allied Health and Technology Center for the Northern Essex Community College campus in downtown Lawrence.

"This is wonderful news for our students, the local employers who hire them, and the communities in which they live and work," said David Hartleb, president of Northern Essex Community College, which also has a campus in Haverhill. "New and updated facilities will enhance the education we currently deliver and allow us to create new programs - especially in healthcare - in response to need."

The $2.2 billion higher education bond bill signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick Aug. 7 aims to renovate or replace failing infrastructure at state colleges and universities. It is the first time in 13 years that the state has made a major investment in campus construction.

Under the measure, a backlog of projects will be addressed over the next decade, including two key projects at Northern Essex: Construction of a new Allied Health and Technology Center on the college's Lawrence campus, and upgrades to the aging Spurk building in Haverhill, which was built in 1971 and is in need of new elevators and a fire protection system to bring the building in line with current code requirements.

The Lawrence project, an endeavor that has been years in the making, is being touted as key to Northern Essex's vision for an urban campus in the former mill city. The new allied health center will be constructed on the site of the former InTown Mall, between the college's existing buildings on Franklin and Amesbury streets. Miller Dyer Spears Inc., a Boston-based architecture and design firm, is working on plans for the building, which is expected to open in late 2010. The state spending measure sets aside $25 million for the project.

"We envision a virtual hospital and outpatient practice area, a center where students will be able to practice in spaces that are like the medical and surgical units that they'll be working in, taking care of patients," said Jackie Long-Goding, dean of health professions at Northern Essex. "Right now, space for our allied health programs is very tight."

The new allied health center will alleviate the logistical issues now facing the college's health care programs - one of the fastest growing areas of the college - and allow Northern Essex to offer programs in medical transcription, coding, and billing on the Lawrence campus. Currently, those courses are offered only in Haverhill because of space constraints in Lawrence.

"The new facility will also benefit local businesses, bringing an additional 1,200 students to downtown Lawrence to attend classes each semester," said college spokeswoman Ernie Greenslade, noting that the influx of new students would boost enrollment at the Lawrence campus by about 50 percent; in fall 2007, 2,371 students from across the Merrimack Valley took courses on the Lawrence campus.

The project has received an outpouring of support from city leaders and local business owners, Greenslade said. The Lawrence City Council voted in 2006 to give the InTown Mall, located on Common Street, to the college. More than $1 million in private funding has been donated to equip the new allied health center.

Though Northern Essex has much to celebrate, the biggest winner in this region under the state spending measure was UMass-Lowell, which received a total of $59 million in earmarks. The legislation sets aside $26 million to help fund construction of a new academic building on South Campus, $10 million to modernize the North Quad, $10 million for civic and athletic facilities, $5 million to address deferred maintenance needs, $4 million for capital expenses related to the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center, $2.5 million to make repairs to Olney Hall on North Campus, and $1.5 million for storm-water management.

"This investment in capital improvements at UMass Lowell will help move our campus forward on initiatives like the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center, as well as improve and add to our academic and research facilities and make important improvements to the physical condition of our campus," said Louise Griffin, vice chancellor for administration and finance at UMass-Lowell.

The legislation also includes $45.1 million for Middlesex Community College, money that will be used to create a performing arts center at the old Rialto Theater building in downtown Lowell and fund two new academic buildings - one in Lowell, the other on the college's sprawling 200-acre Bedford campus.

The new spaces will give Middlesex the ability to expand its existing programs; about 11,500 students are currently enrolled in credit courses on the college's two campuses.

"There's no room at the inn," said Jay Linnehan, executive vice president at Middlesex. "Space has been tight for some time. At our peak times, we're full."

Linnehan said Middlesex plans to put out a request for proposals for the new academic building in Lowell, a process that will be facilitated through the state Division of Capital Asset Management, which oversees campus construction projects at the Commonwealth's public institutions of higher education. The division is now working on prioritizing the many projects that secured funding promises in the 10-year borrowing plan.

"We would like [Middlesex] to be at the front of the state's priority list," Linnehan said, adding that he is grateful to the Legislature and Patrick for making higher education a priority, noting that the funding for campus construction "is dearly needed across the entire state."

Brenda J. Buote may be reached at bbuote@comcast.net.