Iowa State gets regents' approval to expand Veterinary Diagnostic Lab that's still under construction
Phillip SitterOne of Iowa's vanguard diagnostic labs that protects human health and agricultural business from animal diseases got approval Thursday for an addition that would almost be as large as a new version of the lab, which is still under construction.
The Iowa Board of Regents' Property and Facilities Committee was presented Wednesday with capital project requests and other proposals over the coming years from the state's universities.
Those plans included several projects from Iowa State, such as the proposed addition to the university's new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory that's still under construction and expected to be completed in August 2023.
Another plan includes the replacement of a building in the middle of Iowa State's campus.
Both projects got approval through consent agenda Thursday by the full Board of Regents.
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Why does Iowa State want to add on to a building that's not yet finished being built?
State lawmakers in 2018 authorized $63.5 million toward the design and construction of a new $75 million, 72,500-square-foot veterinary diagnostic lab, according to documents submitted to the regents' facilities committee.
The new request for an addition to that project is almost as large as the original, in terms of money and square footage — a further $60.8 million in state funds for the $64.3 million, 69,600-square-foot addition.
The remaining funding needs for the new request would come from $1 million in gifts and $2.5 million of university funds.
Iowa State's lab each year conducts more than a million tests and processes upwards of 100,000 cases, according to its website.
Animal species that are served include pigs, cows, goats, sheep, birds, deer, dogs, cats, horses, camels and other hooved animals.
The lab provides services that include analysis of blood, genetic material and tissue, autopsies, toxicology and studies of bacteria, viruses and parasites.
According to the university's request to the facilities committee, the combined 142,100-square-foot new and added-onto veterinary lab would be needed to get all veterinary diagnostic programs under one roof, including laboratory testing, research space and support functions.
That consolidation would "provide efficient and effective process flow, address critical issues of space quantity and quality and provide the necessary biosafety and biocontainment" for the state's only full-service and fully-accredited veterinary diagnostic lab, according to Iowa State's proposal.
Ames is also home to the National Veterinary Services Lab, which is a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility.
Paul Fuligni, Iowa State's associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said Wednesday that the originally approved new diagnostic lab would improve processing of samples as they come in and will include a new incinerator to dispose of material at the other end of the facility's research.
Fuligni said the proposed addition would support functions involved with 85% of the cases the lab analyzes.
According to the university's request to the facilities committee, the lab's caseload has more than doubled in the last five years, which has made space needs worse in the College of Veterinary Medicine Building and Veterinary Medicine Research Institute, and limits the facility's ability to incorporate new diagnostic tools and techniques.
Fuligni said the new addition's construction would start in 2024, after the new diagnostic lab is complete.
Iowa State also wants to demolish and replace a building in the heart of campus
The university's plans Wednesday also included the demolition and replacement of LeBaron Hall, a more than 60,000-square-foot building that is located east of Parks Library, across Morrill Road, in the heart of the university's central campus.
LeBaron was built in 1958, and Fuligni said the building has not had much investment put into it since.
LeBaron is primarily home to spaces used by the College of Human Sciences — including academic programs in apparel, events management, hospitality management and human development and family studies — as well as general instruction.
Fuligni said the first phase of two in replacing LeBaron would be to demolish the existing building and then build a new one, as well as renovate connections to other buildings around LeBaron — MacKay Hall and the Human Nutritional Sciences Building.
The demolition and replacement would involve 80% of LeBaron's existing square footage, or about 50,000 square feet, according to the university's request to the facilities committee.
The first phase of the project would be funded by $21.5 million in gifts and $14 million of university funds.
The second phase — the addition of 20,000 new square feet — would be paid for with $18.9 million of state appropriations.
The project, which is expected to cost $54.4 million in total, would take almost five years to complete.
More from the regents' meetings this week:Iowa State's first ever online winter session, started amid the pandemic, was popular among juniors and seniors
Phillip Sitter covers education for the Ames Tribune, including Iowa State University and PreK-12 schools in Ames and elsewhere in Story County. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.