YSU eyes $101 million campus plan

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State University Board of Trustees is looking at borrowing more than $58 million to help finance $101 million in campus improvements.

That’s the projected share of the total program cost that the university will have to come up with, if the trustees decide to move forward with the centennial master plan as proposed by the administration.

The plan isn’t final yet, and the trustee’s Finance and Facilities Committee is scheduled to address the issue at a meeting Thursday.

Other major financing sources include nearly $30.5 million in state capital funds and more than $8 million in philanthropic gifts.

A new Williamson College of Business Administration to be built off the southern edge of campus, providing a closer campus link to the downtown business district, is the largest single item on the project list with a cost estimate of $30 million.

But new buildings aren’t the only thing on the master plan. There are property maintenance projects, athletic field improvements and extensive campus parking and gateway improvements and more on the list.

The $101 million isn’t even the entire list of improvements YSU is contemplating.

The university has already completed nearly $26 million worth of work, bringing the total package to $127 million.

The campus bookstore project and the new $12.1 million Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center (which was financed entirely from philanthropic gifts) are items that have already been completed. Both opened in fall 2005.

Trustees, reviewing the $101 million project list at a recent retreat meeting, appeared to be generally enthused about the plan.