UC Irvine says it has put together financing for one of the largest stem cell research centers on the West Coast, but the building’s estimated price has risen about $6 million since spring.
The 100,636 square-foot building is now expected to cost at least $66.6 million by the time it is completed in June 2010. Construction is set to start next week, campus officials say.
The center’s cost rose ”because the price of the building changes with time due to the inherent changes in steel, etc.,” said Hans Keirstead, co-director of UCI’s Stem Cell Research Center.
Keirstead also said that the construction bid “contained several ‘alternates’ for additional value-add options that the developers might want to throw in to win the bid. In addition, UCI has to decide which alternates that it might want to pay for.”
UCI’s financing package includes about $27.2 million from the state, $23.3 million in private donations and a $15 million in loans. About $1 million also will be raised to equip the building. The donations include a $12 million anonymous gift that UCI has been reluctant to discuss. The university said that it would provide details about the basic gift agreement by late September, following a Public Records Act request by The Register. But the campus unexpectedly announced last week that it won’t provide the information until at least Oct. 24.
“We need additional time to process your request,” said Tiffany Jue of UCI’s Public Records Office.
UCI has fared well is raising money for stem cell research, one of the fastest growing areas of the life sciences. But the campus has been struggling to fill an open position for a senior stem cell biologist, largely due to competition with schools like the University of Southern California, which recently beat UCI in breaking ground on a stem cell institute.
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DUDE: And the state has only begun spending Prop. 71 money on stem cell research. It’s too early to say what the results of that investment will be.
Don’t investments tend to yield returns? they must have bought mortgage backed securities……
Anyway I love your column and DVD set you sent back in 04. The reason I clown on the UC so much is a kid I worked with was studying Criminal Justice, instead of case law or text books, the kids put on a play based on a movie. Not sure what the theory was all about but in practice Hollywood portrayals are not always rooted in fact.
I was always against throwing six billion in taxpayers funds at something that still has not produced tangible results. Especially now considering the sate budget and National fiscal insolvency.