POCATELLO — With 176 projects in active design, planning and construction for Idaho State University, there is plenty to look forward to as improvements continue on outdated infrastructure, building remodels and the modernization of facilities.
The total cost for all the projects come in at around $177 million, but much of that cost is offset by the deferred maintenance funding from the state that will be provided over a two-year period, amounting to $92.5 million.
“We make a request to the permanent building fund every year and that's how we get supplied the bulk of our funding on an annual basis,” said Steve Hagler, the director of design and construction at Idaho State University. “We also have donors provide a lot of the funding, like for Leonard Hall, we got a $14 million donation from a donor on that one. Then we do some internal funding of projects. We usually spend about $4 million per year internally on projects.”
Thanks to those allocated funds and projects, students and locals alike may soon be able to experience a completely remodeled Student Union parking lot, the completion of the pool at Reed Gym and countless other small improvements that should enhance the quality of life and the overall experience at ISU.
The timeline for completion for the Student Union parking lot is late August, ideally right around or before school starts on Aug. 19. Reed Gym’s pool will take a bit longer to complete, with estimations around November. The climbing wall at Reed Gym will also see an HVAC system added to the room.
While the parking lot and Reed Gym improvements are some of the largest and most pressing that will be finished this year, there are plenty of others that will have important, lasting effects on the university as a whole.
"The biggest one that we have on the books right now is the remodel of our pharmacy building, which is Leonard Hall,” Hagler said. “That one is going to be in construction all the way up through late next spring, early summer. That's about a $19 million project.”
The pharmacy building improvements will create new, modern lab space on the second floor. Initial cost estimations were below expectations, so other improvements will be added to the first floor and basement of the building. The primary focus will still be on a complete gutting and remodel of the second floor.
“The next biggest one we have on the books is a restructuring and new boilers that are going to go on our heat plant,” Hagler said. “That's going to be ongoing, at least through next summer. That one is $15.6 million.”
Hagler continued, “We have a steam tunnel that runs through campus that provides heat from that heat plant that we have, most of the buildings get fed steam heat from the heat plant. We utilize a tunnel system on campus, and it's pretty old, so we have to go in occasionally and redo all of the walls. Right now, we're reconstructing a portion of the tunnel, and then removing utility lines from within the tunnel to put them on the exterior of the tunnel. We're (currently) in phase one of the $12.7 million tunnel project.”
Other improvements include replacing all the exterior windows and a portion of the exterior stairs at the Stephens Performing Arts Center, adding new concrete on the north side of the ICCU Dome (formerly known as Holt Arena), a new student testing center at the Albion building and a large amount of roofing that will need to be replaced for various other campus structures.
“Miller Ranch, that's the softball field up there, we did some deferred maintenance work with the netting, the press box, bleachers and surrounding pavement around there,” Hagler said. “A lot of stuff you don't see too, like student housing. We did a bunch of remodels on bathrooms around campus. That was a multimillion-dollar project to redo student bathrooms.”
Currently, leadership at Idaho State University are in the middle of constructing a master plan for the university, which will give more direction on how these and future projects take shape and how the funds are allocated.
“One of the projects that we have on the books and that we got funding for recently was to redo a space for the physician assistant study program,” Hagler said. “That's going to be a huge project coming down the road. It's going to be close to $20 million. That'll be a big project where we're going to remodel a space up at the Roy F. Christensen building.”
Hagler continued, “Eventually, we want to replace our life science building with a new building. That's one of the (projects) that we're proposing that would be upwards of tens of millions of dollars. That one is out a few years. Obviously, when it gets to that kind of money, we need to get lots of donors involved and the state, then probably do some potential bond financing for it. Those are the two big projects that we have. There's always stuff that people want to look at that we don't know that they're projects yet, but that we've always got stuff two or three years down the road.”
While many of these renovations, improvements and complete overhauls may be years out, students and residents have peace of mind knowing that work is diligently being done to ensure that standards of quality are met at the university and that the spaces where students learn, grow and prosper will continue to be improved.
“These projects and why we're here is for the students — to be able to provide a good place for them to come and learn, for people to come on to campus and to have a place to be able to meet, socialize and to have a top-notch venue,” Hagler said.
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