YSU board OKs borrowing for Williamson building

Photo

YSU President David C. Sweet

By Harold Gwin

The project is expected to be ready to go out to bid in October or November.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University will borrow $7 million to secure some interim financing for its new Williamson College of Business Administration building.

The university’s board of trustees approved the plan Friday.

The $7 million is an advance part of a larger $40 million bond issue the university plans to borrow in December or early 2009 to help finance its $82 million, campuswide centennial improvement plan.

Both the plan (with the $34.3 million Williamson facility as its major component) and the authorization to borrow the $40 million were approved by the board in December 2006.

Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president, said borrowing the $7 million portion now puts the university in a position to secure a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation — money that YSU wants to use as a challenge grant to secure an additional $1 million from other sources for its ongoing capital campaign.

Kresge wants the university to have the $7 million in hand before the foundation considers YSU’s grant application in December, Sweet said.

The university will pay off the $7 million debt with a combination of philanthropic gifts and state capital funds allocated to YSU, said Gene Grilli, YSU vice president for finance and administration.

Development on the Williamson site is nearing completion. Five buildings in the area bounded by Rayen Avenue on the north, Wood Street on the south, Phelps Street on the east and a proposed Hazel Street Extension on the west have been razed.

The construction project will go out for bid in October or November, said John Hyden, YSU executive director of facilities. About half of this project will be funded through philanthropic gifts with the rest coming from borrowed money, Grilli said.

Hyden said the university, along with project contractors and local labor unions, will sign a “project labor agreement” that will guarantee that all labor on the project will be done by labor forces affiliated with the Mahoning Valley Building Trades.

In return, the agreement will contain a “no strike” clause, which means that no strikes anywhere will affect this project, Hyden said.

The new building is scheduled to be ready for classes in fall 2010.

In a related matter, the trustees approved a proposal to buy nine lots along Wood Street to provide additional parking for the building.

The university will pay WR & L Associates $100,000 for the land.

gwin@vindy.com