Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 3131 |
| Work Detail | Work is underway to widen State Route 260 for several turn lanes leading into the site for a proposed university. While no university partner has been named, those working on the project say signing a partner is imminent. They say construction on an academic building and two dorms should start in December for the anticipated arrival of students after May of 2018. Gary Cordell, Rim Country Educational Foundation president, said crews are right now working on access to the campus site, which sits on 253 acres of land acquired jointly by the Rim Country Educational Alliance and Foundation from the U.S. Forest Service last year. On the south side of State Route 260, crews have bulldozed several trees to make way for a deceleration lane for eastbound traffic turning into the site. In the center of the highway, they will add a left turn lane for westbound traffic turning into the campus. Most of the work is being done in the Arizona Department of Transportation’s right-of-way. Cordell said the highway is being widened to the south to make way for the additional lanes. The Foundation is paying for the work from the $40 million it received from the sale of the local hospital to Banner. Cordell would not say how much the highway work will cost, but said the bill is sizable. The Foundation is using JNL Contracting, a local company, to complete the highway work. He said the Foundation hopes to recoup its costs for the work either through the university partner or retailers, since the site calls for commercial development along with education use. In an update on the campus in May, Cordell said while local project planners initially dreamed the academic facility would open with 1,000 students and grow to 6,000. However, backers have scaled back those numbers. They now plan to open with 300-350 students and grow the campus an additional 200 to 300 students every year until reaching an enrollment of 2,500 students. In Phase 1 of the Payson project, the Alliance and Foundation will widen the highway and spend $70 million to construct three buildings comprising the facility — an academic building to hold classes and two dorms, Cordell said in May. Although Phase 1 of the academic buildings will be built to handle up to 1,000 students, the high construction and infrastructure cost in an unproven housing market have limited initial student housing construction to 300 units. In future years, they will add other academic buildings and dorms in the same area. On the east side beyond a large ridge, the Foundation hopes to build a conference center/resort and residential housing. Cordell said they are envisioning condominiums accessed from a future second entrance off Rim Club Parkway. The west side of the property has room for future commercial development. To keep the campus beautiful, planners want to keep as many trees as possible, including both ponderosa pines and pinyons. Cordell said they are very conscious of the trees and have re-routed roads and building locations in the plans to save as much of the vegetation as possible. Sanja Long, MHA Foundation CEO and Rim Country Education Foundation secretary, said it is disheartening to hear from people that nothing is going on with the university project when they are doing so much. She said the group has been working with ADOT extensively on the design of the roadway expansion, completed a tree study and picked a contractor for the construction of the academic and dorm buildings. On Tuesday, Cordell met with that contractor in the Valley in what he called a “kick off meeting.” The project initially called for building where 2,400 linear feet of power lines currently runs. Initially, the Foundation planned to bury those lines; however, it is cost prohibitive to move those lines so the buildings are being moved to another part of the campus, Cordell said. At some point, as the campus develops, the group would likely bury those power lines. Construction work on the buildings is expected to start in December and run through May 2018. Asked if the Foundation would go forward with construction even if it has not signed a university partner, Cordell said they would announce a partner soon. He refused to discuss the negotiations further. Work on Highway 260 should be done by October. The MHA Foundation, through the Rim Country Educational Foundation, has provided the bulk of the money to buy the land and do the preliminary testing, engineering and design work. The bulk of that money, in turn, came from the sale of the Payson Regional Medical Center to Banner Health Systems, which merged with the old Mogollon Health Alliance and donated some $40 million to the MHA Foundation. Technically, the Rim Country Educational Alliance is responsible for the university project. That board is appointed by the Payson and Star Valley councils and abides by various laws like the open meeting act and the open records laws. However, most of the money for the project has flowed through the Foundation — which is privately held. The Alliance and the Foundation jointly own the land. The Foundation has paid for all the contracts to do the construction work. The Foundation is not subject to the same open meeting and disclosure laws as the Alliance. |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Education & Training |
| Entry Date | 03 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2016/aug/26/road-work-underway-payson-university-plan/ |
