BLINN BOARD APPROVES GUARANTEED MAX PRICE FOR STEI BUILDING AT BRENHAM CAMPUS
The Blinn Board of Trustees approved a guaranteed maximum price for a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Innovation (STEI) building to be built on the Brenham Campus at its meeting Tuesday.
The board approved a $27.7 million guaranteed max price for the STEI building’s construction. With the inclusion of soft costs estimates, this brings the project’s total budget to $35.5 million. Funds for the project are available in the 2019 series bond funds and reserves.
Blinn Chancellor Dr. Mary Hensley, during her report to the board, said PBK Architects is working with the City of Brenham to finalize the permitting process for the building. The construction manager-at-risk for the project, Vaughn Construction, is scheduled to begin construction in March.
Located at Prairie Lea Street between College Avenue and 5th Street, the 72,000-square-foot building includes 17,000 square feet in laboratory space and a 3,000-square-foot innovation lab. The facility will provide expanded anatomy and physiology, chemistry, geology, microbiology, and physics lab space, as well as simulation space for Blinn’s Vocational Nursing Program and engineering labs for use by the Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Blinn in Brenham. The facility also will include a computer science classroom and information technology laboratory, and a two-story engineering technology laboratory designed for drone repair and development.
Blinn Project Director Mark Feldhake said additional parking at the site has been considered by administrators.
The facility is expected to be completed in August 2021, in time for the Fall 2021 semester.
Dr. Hensley also announced that the new Agricultural Sciences building on the Brenham Campus reached substantial completion on February 7th. A grand opening is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at 2 p.m., rain or shine.
Trustees also authorized the College to negotiate and execute a contract with Gowan, Inc. for upgrades to the Brenham Campus central plant.
In other business, Vice Chancellor for Student Services and Administration Karen Buck reported to the board that Blinn enrolled a record 18,131 students for the Spring 2020 semester, a 4.3 percent increase over the previous year. Buck said this marked the first time in College history that Spring enrollment has surpassed 18,000 students.
Spring enrollment included 7,853 students on the Bryan Campus, 3,408 online students, 2,458 students at RELLIS, 2,253 students in Brenham, 117 students in Schulenburg, and 92 students in Sealy.
The board also authorized administrators to negotiate and execute a contract with M. Arthur Gensler Jr. and Associates for professional architectural services related to the programming, planning, design, and construction of the proposed Phase II building on the RELLIS Campus. It also authorized administrators to request proposals for the College District's depository bank services.