North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University has expanded its campus with help from a state bond bill and by embracing creative private-public partnerships, as Keith Regan learns from Kevin MacNaughtonNearly every public university struggles to secure the funding needed to fuel its facilities expansion plans. North Carolina State University is no exception, and its creative approach to enabling growth is getting noticed. For years, the North Carolina legislature backed a pay-as-you-go approach to capital investments on its publicly funded college campuses. If additional money came into the state treasury, some would be set aside for academic and research facilities. In 2000 the legislature passed a $2.5 billion bond for higher education projects. About a half-billion dollars of that amount found its way to the Raleigh campus of NC State. That money helped jump-start building projects on the three contiguous campuses that make up the university. And when combined with creative private-public partnerships, it helped reshape the face of the university, says Kevin MacNaughton, the universityÔÇÖs associate vice chancellor for facilities. NC StateÔÇÖs campus comprises three parts: a central traditional campus where academic and research activities take place; the Centennial campus, where academic and research takes place alongside corporate partners; and the Centennial BioMedical campus, which traditionally housed the universityÔÇÖs veterinary school but is now also embracing a corporate partnership philosophy. Early in 2008, the Centennial CampusÔÇöwhich houses more than 130 companies and government agencies and has attracted partners such as software maker Red Hat, pet food maker Iams and GlaxoSmithKlineÔÇöwas named the top Research Science Park of the Year by the Association of University Research Parks. ÔÇ£We look for creative ways to collaborate with companies,ÔÇØ MacNaughton says, noting that students are able to perform research work and internships with the companies based on the campus that often lead to postgraduate employment. Those partnerships have also enabled the campus to stretch out the stateÔÇÖs capital dollars. ÔÇ£We have buildings we were able to construct without capital appropriations.ÔÇØ For instance, a 40,000-square-foot mixed-use facility now under way near the veterinary school will include about 10,000 square feet of lab space the school will rent from the private developer. Two other projects now going through the request for proposals and bidding processes may also be done as private-public partnerships, including a laboratory sciences building and an apartment-style housing project. ÔÇ£We want to have a mix of owner equity and private equity on the campus,ÔÇØ MacNaughton states. In many cases, ownership of the privately financed and built projects reverts to the university after a period of 40 years. Other projects now in process will help expand the efforts to more closely align university teaching and research with commercial businesses. For instance, the $72 million Terry Center for Veterinary MedicineÔÇöBovis Lend Lease is the site work construction managerÔÇönow under way will serve as an animal hospital and research facility. That 110,000-square-foot buildingÔÇömore than double the size of the current companion animal hospitalÔÇöwas made possible thanks to a $20 million pledge from the estate of Randall B. Terry Jr., a philanthropist whose golden retrievers were treated at the college. Meanwhile, on the Centennial Campus, work is under way on what will become Engineering Building III, a $104 million project being managed and built by construction manager, Skanska. Once completed, the facility will enable the engineering college to make another step in its migration to the Centennial campus, where engineering research and education will be more closely aligned with the commercial enterprises on that campus. ÔÇ£ThereÔÇÖs a major push to make the engineering school one of the top schools in the country, so thereÔÇÖs been a major commitment to putting the facilities in place to enable that to happen,ÔÇØ MacNaughton notes. Both those facilities were designed before a recently enacted campus mandate required that new projects seek at least Silver designation from the Green Building CouncilÔÇÖs LEED Program. However, MacNaughton says the engineering building may still be submitted for certification, and both buildings include significant elements of sustainability. In fact, sustainability is taking center stage in several ways at NC State. The campus is currently planning a $53 million project that will upgrade its electrical power stations. By replacing two major boilers with more modern and efficient ones and employing co-generation to wring more power out of the same amount of fuel, the campus hopes to reap savings that can then be plowed back into additional energy conservation projects. University Chancellor James Oblinger declared a ÔÇ£Year of EnergyÔÇØ at NC State, during which the university will marshal resources toward becoming more carbon-neutral. A solid foundation is already in place, with the campus boasting the stateÔÇÖs largest solar panel arrayÔÇöbuilt atop a onetime EPA Superfund environmental cleanup siteÔÇöand the land-grant university holding hundreds of acres of forest and agricultural land around the state that can help offset emissions. ÔÇ£ThereÔÇÖs been a high-level commitment to drive forward toward a carbon-neutral campus,ÔÇØ MacNaughton says. That will also involve taking a fresh look at ways to maximize the use of public transportation to and around the campus, which is located within the Raleigh city limits. The university is also engaged in talks with the city about using so-called gray water to irrigate the soon-to-be-completed 18-hole golf course being built on campus. That course will also be a research and educational tool for the universityÔÇÖs turf grass program, which is widely considered one of the best in the country. The university enjoys a positive partnership with the city, MacNaughton says, and another plan about to take shape calls for a main road that serves as the front door to the campusÔÇöHillsborough StreetÔÇöto undergo streetscape improvements as part of a larger effort to revitalize the area. ÔÇ£We want to maintain a favorable relationship with our host city,ÔÇØ MacNaughton adds. ÔÇ£We want to be able to do it in a way that does not disenfranchise anyone but that allows for economic development to take place as well.ÔÇØ┬á