Contact: Joe Farris
A $3 million upgrade of Mississippi State's main heating and cooling plant will allow several additional buildings to be connected to the centralized system and reduce utility costs.
Work at the university's central power plant located behind Patterson Engineering Building is scheduled to begin Tuesday [April 4], weather permitting, and will require approximately a year. During construction, the short connector street between Hardy Street and Lee Boulevard will be closed from the Band Hall to the foot of the hill behind Roberts Laundry.
As a result, the day student and staff parking lot across the street from the power plant and north of Herbert Hall also will be closed during the construction period.
New cooling towers at the power plant will more than double the capacity of the existing system, said physical plant director Don Mott. The expansion will allow the new Swalm Chemical Engineering Building, Perry Cafeteria, Montgomery Hall, and other buildings to be connected to the central utility loop, eliminating reliance on aging, stand-alone heating and cooling units at those locations.
A state bond issue is funding the project.
The power plant expansion and the exterior renovation of Lee Hall that began recently are among a series of new construction and renovation projects that will be in progress by this summer, said Gaddis Hunt, associate vice president for business affairs.
Hunt said renovations are planned for McCain Engineering Building and Montgomery Hall, while construction of a new landscape architecture building will begin near Stone Boulevard, north of Thompson Hall.
Summer construction also is planned on:
--A north entrance road to connect the central campus with U.S. Highway 82 at the entrance to the Mississippi Research and Technology Park, and
--A bicycle and pedestrian path that will parallel Barr Ave. on campus, connecting the central campus and University Drive.
--The Chapel of Memories clock tower, where moisture penetration has caused masonry deterioration.
Major projects now nearing completion are the construction of Swalm Chemical Engineering Building, to be occupied this summer, and renovation of Hilbun Hall, which will be finished in time to accommodate fall semester classes.
Still in the design stage, the next wave of construction at MSU will include:
--Widening and other improvements on Blackjack Road,
--Extension of Hardy Street to Blackjack Road,
--Renovations of Bowen Hall and the YMCA Building, and
--Interior renovations at Lee Hall.