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  Home Page » News » FLC Gets Money For Berndt Hall

FLC gets money for Berndt Hall

$3.2 million available for planning

by Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau DENVER - Despite chaos on Wall Street, state officials successfully sold $231 million in bonds this week, and some of the money will help Fort Lewis College rebuild its science building.

Fort Lewis will get $3.2 million to do architectural and engineering work on the third phase of its science building, Berndt Hall.

"We're ecstatic. It's kind of been a good week or two," said Steve Schwartz, FLC's vice president for finance and administration.

The college went through a minor drama this month when Gov. Bill Ritter put several college construction projects on hold - including phase two of Berndt Hall - to prepare for a worsening economy. But college officials appealed, and last week the governor's office gave them the green light to keep working.

Fort Lewis has been waiting to finish the second phase since early this decade.

Money for the third phase - which houses the geosciences, physics and engineering departments - became available this year when legislators decided to take out bonds using money from gas and oil production on federal land.

But the Wall Street crash put those bonds in doubt. A week ago, state officials questioned whether they would be able to sell the bonds at all, Ritter said.

But the situation changed quickly, Treasurer Cary Kennedy said.

"We saw a very strong rally in the bond market earlier this week," Kennedy said.

Colorado will pay 5.39 percent interest on the bonds. Just a week ago, the market rate was a full point higher, which would have cost the state $17 million, Kennedy said.

The rate is one of the best anyone in the country has received since the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank in September. It shows investors believe Colorado's economy is strong, Kennedy said.

For Fort Lewis, the sale means architects can start drawing plans for Berndt's third phase.

Construction will require an additional $25 million, on top of the $3.2 million in design money obtained this week. Schwartz doesn't know whether that money will be available next year. It depends on whether the state can pull off another bond sale.

Statewide, 12 colleges got funding for their projects through this week's sale. But dozens more buildings are still awaiting funding.

"We're not able to make any promise about when we get to those projects," Ritter said.

jhanel@durangoherald.com