Jay Gonzalez, Secretary of the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance, said the state will pay $65 million of the planned $85 million academic building.
Bill Wilson, right, a principal with Wilson Architects of Boston talks in front of a model of the new laboratory science building now under construction at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Friday with UMass Chancellor Robert C. Holub, left, and Provost James V. Staros, center. Ground was broken for the project in the spring, but not heralded with a ground breaking ceremony.AMHERST – On a day when officials gathered to celebrate a new science building, the University of Massachusetts got good news - the state will contribute $65 million toward a new $85 million academic classroom building that will provide 1,800 new state-of-the-art classroom seats and academic space for programs including communications, journalism and linguistics.
The building is expected to be completed by January 2014.
Jay Gonzalez, Secretary of the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance, made the announcement when he was on campus to celebrate the $156.5 million new laboratory science building that broke ground in February.
The money for the new academic building will be paid for through a higher education bond bill and had been part of the overall UMass system capital budget.
The five-story 150,000 square-foot building will be designed by the Boston architecture firm Burt, Hill and be located at the north end of the campus pond near the Lincoln Campus Center and Student Union, according to university officials.
Besides Gonzalez, Chancellor Robert C. Holub and UMass president Jack M. Wilson among others were on hand to celebrate the science building, which broke ground in February.
That building is being financed with $100 million from the state and $56.5 million from the campus and will provide 310,000 square feet of research space, and its north wing will be occupied by the fall of 2012.
The rest of the building will be left as just a shell so that it can be equipped for a variety of research initiatives in the future. When finished, the building will be connected to the Integrated Sciences Building, which opened in 2009.
Michael F. Malone, vice chancellor for research and engagement, said earlier this week said that the Integrated Sciences Building is focused on teaching and the new building will provide research space for graduate students and faculty.
The building “will be heavily focused on life science. It’s a good growth area for us,” Malone said. The state, he added, “has a set a priority for the life sciences. We want to be part of that.”
A few new faculty members are on board, and others will be hired as the building’s completion unfolds. The building “will put people into more modern laboratories,” Malone said.
The new space will allow for faculty cluster groups who are working on similar issues to work near each other, according to Malone. And, he said, those “from different fields can collaborate.” They’ll be able to “work closely together on grants and projects.”