KU lays out list of $184 million in building projects planned through 2023

Kansas fans watch the Jayhawk football team on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014 at Memorial Stadium.

The University of Kansas is tentatively planning for $184 million in capital improvements over the next six years — primarily renovations to campus housing, the Kansas Union and Memorial Stadium.

KU and other Kansas Board of Regents universities submitted capital improvements requests to the Board on Wednesday. The board is expected to approve requests in the coming months, although actually completing projects on the list is subject to securing the necessary funding.

The fiscal year 2019 capital improvement request lists feature projects that, leaders hope, would begin in fiscal years 2018 through 2023.

Proposed funding sources vary, but any projects dependent on state general funds are subject to the legislative process, said Nelda Henning, director of facilities for the Regents.

“State general funds are the ones that are kind of up in question,” Henning said.

Of KU’s 12 listed projects, the only ones counting on state funds are road and heating/cooling improvements.

Other projects include:

• Renovations to Jayhawker Towers. Building B work, budgeted at $10.2 million, is slated to take place in 2020. Building C work, at $10 million, is slated for 2021. Funding is from housing funds and revenue bonds.

• Oliver Hall renovation, at $23.8 million, is scheduled for 2022. Funding is from housing funds and revenue bonds.

• Memorial Stadium renovations, budgeted at $50 million, are scheduled for 2023. Funding is anticipated to be private gifts.

• Battenfeld Scholarship Hall renovation, budgeted at $2.2 million, is slated for 2019. Funding is housing funds.

• Kansas Union renovation, budgeted at $45 million, is slated for 2021 to 2023. Funding is anticipated to be a combination of student fees, revenue bonds and student union funds.

The Union renovation was newly added to KU’s capital improvement requests this year, according to the Regents lists. Its funding and future are still up in the air.

A proposal to add a $50 per semester required student fee to pay for the renovation failed in a student referendum April 13 and 14. On Friday, election results were still pending formal certification by the KU Student Senate Elections Commission.

“The Union team plans to review the outcomes of election and what that fully means moving forward,” Union representatives said in a press release this week.

KU Medical Center’s capital improvement request list features $249 million in projects, including the new $75 million Health Education Building that’s already under construction on the campus in Kansas City, Kan.

Of the six state universities, Kansas State University’s capital improvements requests list was by far the largest. K-State’s list features three dozen projects — including multiple new buildings, expansions and renovations — slated to begin in the next six years totaling $838 million.