Notes from the Nov. 6, 2003 Regents Meeting

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., Nov. 6, 2003 – The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents, after convening this morning in an emergency meeting conducted by telephone conference call, has unanimously approved a $15 million bid for the construction of the university’s new Joseph Fidel Student Services Building.

The on-campus construction project was awarded to Albuquerque contractor Bradbury & Stamm Construction, Inc., which submitted a low bid of $15,009,000 to construct the 92,000-square-foot, three-story facility.

New Mexico Tech President Daniel H. López informed the Tech Board of Regents that all the bids submitted were higher than anticipated, ranging about $1 million over the initial estimated cost of building such a facility.

“There is speculation that recent factors outside of New Mexico, such as property damage caused by hurricanes and the rebuilding of Iraq, have caused construction costs to go up significantly in this and other states over the last few months,” López explained.

Work on the Fidel Student Services Building is expected to start soon, with a projected completion date of July 2005.