UMass panel backs $2.56 billion capital campaign

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

A trustees committtee at the University of Massachusetts today approved a $2.56 billion capital spending campaign over the next five years to fund a building boom across its five campuses.

The plan, which is contingent on substantial state and federal support, would finance new academic and research facilities and renovate aging structures. The funding sources include the borrowing of $1.4 billion and an infusion of almost $800 million from the state government, which would represent a sharp increase from previous contributions.

Of the $1.7 billion the university has spent on construction and renovation during the past eight years, the state funding covered just 16 percent, the university said. But this year's $2 billion higher education capital bill and the $1 billion life sciences legislation, which combined will steer well over $1 billion to the university, has sparked hope for expanded spending.

"By ushering these two critical bills into law, the Governor and the Legislature make two things very clear: how important state-of-the-art facilities are to UMass and the critical role that the University plays in fueling and shaping the state’s innovation economy," University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement.

The plan, approved today by a finance committee, comes to a vote of the full board of trustees Sept. 26. The plan was proposed by Wilson in collaboration with campus chancellors.

The plan features a $100 million science building and $53 million student recreation center at UMass Amherst; a $152 million science complex and $100 academic building at UMass Boston, $75 million in student housing renovations at UMass Dartmouth; a $90 million emerging technologies center at UMass Lowell; and a $333 million new science building at the Medical School in Worcester.

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