With plans to acquire Station Seventy-Four, the Board of Regents provided updates regarding the apartment complex.
Jason Youngblood, director of facilities management, said the University has inspected the property.
“We are also working through operational needs that we’ll have as a university operating this property because the first year how does that work for us,” Youngblood asked. “How does it work for our students (and) how we operate this property moving forward.”
Youngblood said the apartment complex should be available to students this fall.
Jackie Dudley, senior vice president of finance and administrative services, said since the apartment is currently leasing property, the University will honor those leases.
“(As) we take ownership, some of those individuals may choose not to live there because we do have some individuals that are not students,” Dudley said. “We will allow leases to be broken the first year, if someone wants to get out, but we will honor them as they’re in place. Our first year of transition will really be fall 2025.”
The acquisition of Station Seventy-Four will approximately cost $17.9 million. The Board of Regents voted at the December meeting the “issuance” of bonds to finance the acquisition.
A number of construction updates were presented to the Board, including a progress report on the Nursing and Health Professions building.
The $45.5 million project is set to begin site development this summer.
Youngblood said construction will impact parking, but said information about the changes will be available soon. There will be space off the southeast corner of the building for an addition in the future.
“When we started programming for this building, what we needed for the nursing program, we couldn’t afford to fit all in the first phase of this building,” Youngblood said. “There is a future planned addition, if we can afford to do it or find the money, to do an addition to get the entire nursing program moved into this building.
The new anticipated completion date is set for April 2026.
Plans are in place to upgrade accessibility in Oakley Applied Science. Those projects include:
- ADA upgrades to the interior and exterior
- Restroom upgrades
- Lounge space in the front entrance
- Study nooks
Jordan Smith, executive director of government and institutional relations, said the House budget funds the University’s plan to construct a learning commons.
“That is actually $38 million just from the general fund, so that’s not authorization for us to use our own money,” Smith said. “That’s not a payback or anything, that is a direct appropriation for this learning commons.”
This learning commons building will include a student success center, meeting space, residential housing and dining options.
Preliminary plans for the learning commons were discussed by University President, Bob Jackson at the January Staff Congress meeting.
The Board went into a closed session towards the end of the meeting to discuss, “pending litigation against or on behalf of the public agency.” No action was taken.
