SMSU inches toward second intermodal transfer facility

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by Paul Schreiber|ret||ret||tab|

SBJ Reporter|ret||ret||tab|

pschreiber@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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In spite of zero state money available for campus capital improvements, Southwest Missouri State University has nearly $25 million worth of potential projects on the drawing board for 2004.|ret||ret||tab|

To date, however, only $417,990 has materialized in actual awarded contracts, said Doug Sampson, university architect. Funds to complete these projects will come from on-hand maintenance and repair dollars, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

State dollars come to public higher-education institutions as both operating and capital improvement monies. There have been no capital monies to state universities since the start of state shortfalls in 2001, said Joe Martin, associate commissioner for fiscal and legislative affairs for the Missouri Department of Higher Education. |ret||ret||tab|

A slowed economy has left school officials with dwindling funds. State operating appropriations were $89.2 million in fiscal year 2002, $80.3 million in fiscal 2003 and are $77.7 million for fiscal 2004, Martin said.|ret||ret||tab|

Gov. Bob Holden's recommendation for fiscal 2005 is $80.3 million, but House Budget Chair Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, has proposed retaining this year's level of $77.7 million, Martin added.|ret||ret||tab|

SMS's fiscal year 2004 started July 1, 2003, and ends June 30, 2004.|ret||ret||tab|

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Intermodal Transfer Facility II|ret||ret||tab|

Chief on SMSU's fiscal 2004 expense agenda is parking. As of Nov. 17, the school had issued 12,726 permits for 7,852 available parking spaces, according to a fiscal 2005 SMSU parking fee analysis given by Fred Marty, associate vice president for administrative services.|ret||ret||tab|

Even if the state was flush, there would be no dollars for SMSU's parking situation. "Traditionally, the state doesn't appropriate money for auxiliaries, things like parking garages or sports venues or cafeterias or dorms," Martin said.|ret||ret||tab|

Slightly more than $18 million of the estimated $25 million in fiscal 2004 capital improvement expenses would go toward a 1,240-car, three-tiered, intermodal transfer facility on the corner of Grand Street and Holland Avenue, similar to the $7.1 million Park & Ride garage built west of the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts in 1995, Sampson said.|ret||ret||tab|

The new parking facility would have glass-backed elevators, glass-enclosed stairs, interior lighting and security cameras, said Marty. |ret||ret||tab|

Other campus transportation improvements related to the project are a Briggs Transitway Connector and John Q. Hammons Transitway and Holland Avenue upgrades.|ret||ret||tab|

If building commences this spring, construction costs for the 16-month project are more than $13 million, Marty said. Beyond that, professional fees, administrative costs, project contingencies and contributed land values bump the expense to slightly more than $18 million.|ret||ret||tab|

After project cost adjustments, contingent on whether the John Q. Hammons Transitway is done and including SMSU's land donation, the adjusted total outlay comes to $14.8 million, said Marty.|ret||ret||tab|

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Finding the money|ret||ret||tab|

For the parking facility, there's $11 million coming from the Federal Transit Administration, said Myril Stewart, parking administration manager for SMSU. The school qualifies for this money, he said, not because the FTA is concerned with SMSU's limited parking, but because the intermodal facility will provide more efficient transportation to distribute students around campus. |ret||ret||tab|

The theory is the inefficient mode of single-passenger cars snarling campus thoroughfares with traffic will be reduced by parking at the intermodal facility and using the shuttle-bus system to get around campus, Stewart said. |ret||ret||tab|

The anticipated shortfall of $2.8 million to reach the $14.8 million adjusted project cost is based on SMSU already having $12 million available in accumulated FTA funds, approved 2004 FTA funds and parking lot reserve funds, Marty said. |ret||ret||tab|

The $2.8 million needed would be generated by issuing 20-year revenue bonds that have an annual debt service of $219,000, Marty said.|ret||ret||tab|

Most of the money going toward the $219,000 debt service would come from an increase in parking permit fees, Stewart said. What that increase will be is now under consideration by the parking administration, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

Currently, an annual parking permit runs $100 for reserved lots, $62 for residence hall lots and for commuters, Marty said. Annual motorcycle permits are $12.|ret||ret||tab|

Parking administration is an auxiliary component of campus, like the residence halls and the bookstore, Stewart said. These entities must generate whatever revenues needed to fund staff salaries, utilities, parking lot maintenance, snow removal, signage, vehicles, computers and so on, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

There are three primary sources of parking revenue parking permit fees, parking violation fines and parking meter collections, Stewart said. "Right now we're within $1,000 of our budget expenditures meeting our projected revenues" for fiscal year 2004.|ret||ret||tab|

Sampson said he hopes to have contractor bids on the intermodal transfer facility project in time for the April 23 SMSU Board of Governors meeting. If started this spring, he said, the facility would be ready for the fall 2005 semester.|ret||ret||tab|

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Siceluff Hall|ret||ret||tab|

Of the 13 projects assigned tentative bid dates for 2004, six have been reviewed and three have been awarded, Sampson said. The three contracts thus far assigned will all go to updating Siceluff Hall, one of the school's three original buildings.|ret||ret||tab|

Agricultural Materials won a bid to do $279,608 worth of window replacements and window blind work for the aging Siceluff Hall, Sampson said. The estimated cost to do the work initially was $200,000.|ret||ret||tab|

Roof work was awarded to Kirberg Roofing Inc. with a bid of $34,865 against an estimated cost of $50,000, Sampson said. The elevator and machine room modifications will be handled by Kenmar Construction Inc. with a bid of $103,517 against a cost estimate of $95,000. |ret||ret||tab|

These projects are funded by repair and maintenance funds.|ret||ret||tab|

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Other projects|ret||ret||tab|

Other projects under consideration this spring are rebuilding the entrance ramp to Pummill Hall; a multipurpose area at Darr Agricultural Center; tuck pointing on various campus buildings; water line replacement at Ellis Hall; Blair-Shannon Residence Hall interior renovations; parking lot upgrades; restroom renovations in Woods and Freudenberger residence halls; and tunnel repairs and improvements, Sampson said.|ret||ret||tab|

Someday, pending the availability of funds, Carrington Hall will get an overhaul, Sampson said. Carrington, which houses university administration, is not the highest priority, but it does need work.|ret||ret||tab|

Administrators tend to defer to other campus projects first, but "from a physical plant standpoint, this building really needs some attention to it. Windows need to be replaced there; whole interiors need to be redone," Sampson said.|ret||ret||tab|

Unfortunately, the lack of glamour of much of this ongoing maintenance work doesn't make benefactors eager to write checks. |ret||ret||tab|

"There's not a lot of people that want to put their name on a band of insulation going on a pipe," Sampson said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Dollar boost|ret||ret||tab|

On Feb. 23, SMSU signed a contract to sell up to 25 acres fronting Scenic Avenue, just south of Sunshine, to Gardner Properties LLC for $740,000, said Greg Burris, vice president for administration and finance. |ret||ret||tab|

On the site is a 9,800-square-foot warehouse valued at about $95,000 that holds surplus SMSU property.|ret||ret||tab|

Completion of the deal is contingent on two things: approval by Missouri's General Assembly and rezoning, Burris said. |ret||ret||tab|

"My plan is principally to control what goes around me," said Mark Gardner, owner of Gardner Properties, who already owns adjacent land extending north to the corner of Sunshine and Scenic. "I might try to rezone a little bit of the land commercial just to get some additional parking." He said that most of it would likely be devoted to housing projects.|ret||ret||tab|

With the proposed sale's receipts, the university may add another Springfield address in the future. |ret||ret||tab|

"We're hoping that we would take the proceeds from this sale and leverage those monies to obtain a facility in town," Burris said, declining further details due to ongoing negotiations. He said ideally the dollars would be paired with a gift to the school.|ret||ret||tab|

The Scenic Avenue property was one of two plats of land totaling 125 acres deeded to the school by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1968, Marty said. |ret||ret||tab|

In 1998 the university fulfilled all obligations to the original transfer agreement and received it without restriction, he added.|ret||ret||tab|

SMSU's Darr Agricultural Center is located on the other 100 acres, Burris said.|ret||ret||tab|

Beyond SMSU's core Springfield campus buildings and real estate near the Federal Medical Center, the university owns the James D. Morris Center in downtown Springfield. Outside of Springfield, SMSU's holdings include the West Plains campus, Baker Observatory in Marshfield, the Mountain Grove Research Campus and Bull Shoals Lake Field Station, Marty said. |ret||ret||tab|

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