Facilities master plan put on hold after Michael Rao left, VP of facilities management says

After former Central Michigan University President Michael Rao stepped down in July 2009, the school’s facilities master plan was put on hold, Associate Vice President of Facilities Management Steve Lawrence said Friday.

In an email to Central Michigan Life, Lawrence wrote that the facilities master plan was delayed while the university’s Strategic Planning Committee finished the strategic plan for other aspects of the university.

The master plan highlights three aspects; academic priority, auxiliary and buildings. The plan was scheduled to begin once Academic Prioritization was complete, Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services David Burdette said in October. Provost Gary Shapiro introduced his report on Academic Prioritization in October, while University President George Ross announced the allocation of $5.8 million to programs considered Category 1 or 2 during the February board of trustees meeting.

Grand Rapids-based architectural company URS Corporation will be invited to campus this summer to work toward completing the master plan. The company was originally expected to visit in November or December but was called off with the plan delays, Burdette told CM Life on Wednesday.

“A completed strategic plan will be a key for guide for the updating of the campus facilities master plan,” Lawrence said. “We will begin the master planning process in September 2012 after students and faculty return, so they can be involved in the process.”

Once complete, the facilities master plan will lay out what CMU’s campus is expected to look like in the next 20 years, including all building renovations and new structures. Currently, building projects including the new graduate student housing facility, Anspach Hall renovations and plans to create a new data center on campus have been outlined in the facilities master plan.

The graduate student apartment housing project is under construction and expected to be completed by March 2013. This summer, contractors will begin a $14 million renovation on the first floor of Anspach Hall, installing a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning system, electrical, plumbing, fire alarms, restrooms, lights, a new west entrance and student lounge, Lawrence wrote.

“This project will be done over two summers and be completed in August 2013,” he said.

The last facilities master plan was created in 2001 and modified by the university in 2003.