UNC's genomics building on track for funding from state
BYLINE: Patrick Hogan
CHAPEL HILL - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill appears to be on the verge of securing state funding for a project that Chancellor James Moeser has tagged his No. 1 legislative priority.
The state House of Representatives included in its biennial budget proposal more than $119 million for construction of the Genomics Sciences Building, which would rise from what currently is the bell tower parking lot on the Chapel Hill campus. Gov. Mike Easley also recommended funding the project in the spending plan he submitted to the legislature in February.
"This project is high on our list because it provides integrated research space for physical scientists to do the type of work necessary for UNC to be competitive in the academic and research arenas," says Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction at UNC. "It is a very critical project."
Based on the House budget proposal, UNC would receive $44 million in state funds for the project during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, followed by more than $75.6 million in 2008-2009. That's on top of $28.4 million the university received last year for site preparation and other preliminary work.
The state Senate currently is putting together its version of a budget proposal. Both chambers and the governor must agree on a single legislative spending plan by June 30.
The funding would come at a critical juncture for the university. Work on the genomics building already has begun in an effort to relieve spatial constraints that have pestered UNC's Biology Department in recent years, says project manager Bill McCraw, a facility architect for UNC.
"We have been proceeding with the project on the basis that we would be successful in getting the funding," says McCraw. "The biologists are busting at the seams. Their need for this facility is yesterday."
The need may be immediate, but McCraw says that, even with funding in hand, construction of the facility is unlikely to reach completion before 2010.
At more than 200,000 square feet, the Genomics Sciences Building would afford UNC the space needed to conduct interdisciplinary research on genomics, a rapidly expanding field of study that scrutinizes the hereditary makeup of living organisms.
The building would include eight biology research laboratories, a synthetic chemistry lab, space for bioinformatics research, a rooftop greenhouse and other core labs. It would house 450-seat and 250-seat lecture halls, an 80-seat lecture room and four seminar rooms. The total cost is anticipated to top $148 million, says McCraw.
The Genomics Sciences Building would be housed under the UNC College of Arts and Sciences but would be a partner facility to the Genomics Medicine Building currently being built jointly by the university's schools of pharmacy and medicine. The two facilities are the anchor components in a campus-wide initiative to improve the university's genomics operations.
The five-story, $120 million Genomics Medicine Building is slated for completion by spring 2008, according to School of Pharmacy Dean Bob Blouin.