Regents approve updates to ISU president's house

WEST DES MOINES -- The state Board of Regents approved several campus construction projects Tuesday, including a $375,000 update to the president's residence at Iowa State University.

The regents, during a meeting in West Des Moines, unanimously approved the projects.

ISU will replace the 23-year-old carpet on the main floor of the Knoll,  the public area of the president's house where hundreds of events are held each year. The new wool carpet will cost $90,000. The main portion of the renovation costs, however, will be to exterior work, including new gutters and painting and replacing 50-year-old windows, officials said. The work will be done during the transition from outgoing President Gregory Geoffroy to the new ISU president, yet to be hired.

The money for the project will come from the ISU Foundation, and no state funding or tuition dollars will be used, officials said.

The regents also approved the project description and budget for ISU's $74.5 million Biorenewables Complex -- Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering Building. The board previously approved the schematic design for the complex, which will provide facilities to align ISU's biorenewables initiatives. The three wings, connected by an atrium, include the Biorenewables Research Laboratory, construction of which was completed in 2010, the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) research and teaching laboratory wing, and the ABE office and classroom wing.

University of Iowa officials also received regents approval Tuesday for the schematic design and budget on a $20.9 million expansion for the Ambulatory Surgery Center and Main Operating Room Suite, which officials say will accommodate significant growth in surgical cases. The project will develop four new Ambulatory Surgery Center operating rooms and necessary support facilities to augment the existing eight operating rooms. The project also will develop two additional operating rooms in the main operating room suite.