Regents Approve Jones and Kelly Remodeling

by Valerie Kimble

SOCORRO, N.M., Feb. 22, 2008 – The long-awaited renovation of Jones Hall and Kelly Hall took a major step toward reality on Thursday, when the New Mexico Tech Board of Regents gave the green light to proceed with construction bids.

The action came during an emergency meeting of the board via teleconference in the office of Tech President Daniel H. López on the university campus. Four board members participated by phone, while Socorro Regent Jerry Armijo was there in person.

The board gave López the authority to request approval from the New Mexico Board of Finance (BOF), and to initiate this project and subsequently go out for construction bids, along with taking any action deemed necessary with other entities.

If all goes as scheduled, work could begin this summer to renovate the 28-year-old Jones Hall, home to two academic departments, and to build a small addition to Kelly Hall, which houses the Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC).

López explained that the university received notice on Wednesday that the BOF had approved the project, a day after Regents met in Socorro for their meeting; and that a key deadline was fast approaching, thus necessitating the emergency meeting.

New Mexico Tech in 2004 was appropriated only $3.5 million of a requested $8.8 million in general obligation bonds, and couldn’t initiate the project with only partial funding, said López.

Because those bonds are scheduled to expire at the end of June, the president said he has written a letter to the BOF asking for a one-year grace period.

An additional $6.5 million in bond funding was approved for the project in 2006, providing the university with a full $10 million for the renovation package.

The regents’ action means that New Mexico Tech can go out for bids at the end of March, said Joe Galon, the university’s Director of Planning, and that regents may be asked at their May meeting to award a construction bid.

Because both Jones and Kelly halls are occupied, the project is divided into 18 stages and will take a year to complete, Galon said.

-- NMT --