Infrastructure projects in Virginia localities get funded and built through capital improvement programs. The University of Virginia has something similar in the Major Capital Plan.
“This is a plan that started out in 2022 at about $2.9 billion,” said Colette Sheehy, senior vice president for operations and state government relations “We’ve completed a number of projects over the course of the last 12 months totalling almost $400 million.”
There’s currently about a billion worth of projects under construction including the Virginia Guesthouse, the School of Data Science, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the renovation of Alderman Library.
But what’s next?
“Several projects are just in the planning and design phase so that we can get a better sense of what the building will entail, the scope, the estimate cost,” Sheehy said.
One of those projects is $1.5 million for planning and design of a public safety building, which Sheehy suggested may end up in a repurposed building. There’s also another $7 million for planning and design for an initiative to build more dormitories.
“The second year housing initiative, which we hope to finish up the planning for probably for your December meeting,” Sheehy said. “We just want to be poised for the first project when that’s ready.”
(image) A snapshot of the total UVA Major Capital Plan (view the presentation)
Sheehy said there have been changes to the plan since the Buildings and Grounds Committee last saw it in March.
“The new ones being added since you saw this in March include a new video scoreboard at Scott Stadium,” Sheehy said. “We aren’t sure of the cost of it yet because the athletic department is considering the actual size of the video board.”
The current scoreboard is 14 years old.
Another $7.4 million project would see the build-out of a UVA Health clinic at Zion Crossroads.
“This has turned out to be a very busy clinic for UVA Health,” said Dr. Craig Kent, chief executive officer at UVA Health. “It’s our venture into the geography that’s between Charlottesville and Richmond and that’s a really significantly growing area so the demand for our current services there is quite substantial.”
There’s another project for UVA Health with a cost range between $108 million and $132 million. There’s no detail for this in the packet for the meeting and Sheehy did not bring it up.
One project that has been removed from the plan is $17 million for a Student Activities Building. Sheehy said this is due to reflect a relatively recent change in administration. Robyn S. Hadley became Vice President and Dean of Students and Chief Student Affairs Officer in June 2021.
“What Robyn wants to do is look at all of the student activity spaces around Grounds and really assess [if] we are using in the way we still need to use them,” Sheehy said. “Do we need different kinds of spaces? New spaces?”
More from the Buildings and Grounds Committee in future editions of the program.
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