June 2025 Real Estate and Capital Project Report

The June 2025 Real Estate and Capital Project Report has been published by MSU's Infrastructure Planning and Facilities. Included in this report are updates on board-authorized capital projects in design and in construction as well as critical real estate initiatives regarding possible property transactions and leaseholds.

View the June 2025 Real Estate and Capital Project Report (PDF).

Substantially Complete Projects

Chemistry Building: FRIB Radiochemistry

Michigan State University operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, supporting the mission of the Office of Nuclear Physics. During routine operation for its nuclear physics mission—without interfering with FRIB’s primary users—extra, unused isotopes can be “harvested.” These harvested rare isotopes can have a role in multiple fields of study, such as medicine, biochemistry, materials science, horticulture, and astrophysics.

With FRIB isotope harvesting, MSU is poised to be a leader in radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry education, and MSU can offer a fast development path for any rare isotope leading to innovations, generate intellectual property and stimulate external investment, meet a national need, and grow the program to leverage increasing federal interest and grant funding.

FRIB’s isotope harvesting program will be operational in 2024. FRIB and the College of Natural Science have hired three new faculty members to establish and lead a world-class research and education program in radiochemistry at MSU. The radiochemistry laboratory renovations in the Chemistry Building will support these faculty members’ research and education efforts.

The project includes renovations to provide wet bench laboratories designed to support radioisotope research and associated spaces, including offices. The renovations include a new exhaust system and radiochemistry hoods with HEPA filters serving these laboratories to provide the highest level of safety measures. This renovation was planned in conjunction with the College of Natural Science/Department of Chemistry teaching and research laboratory renovations.

Chemistry Building Laboratory Upgrades

The project includes renovations to support new wet lab and computational research. It consolidates teaching laboratories on the main floor of the Chemistry Building, improving access, and locate research laboratories on the upper floors, improving collaboration and safety. The teaching lab consolidation is in conjunction with the radiochemistry laboratory renovations for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

The renovations create new research laboratories, a teaching laboratory and associated spaces including offices. They include new fume hoods and necessary mechanical system upgrades; replacement of laboratory casework and utility services; new ceilings, lighting, painting, and furniture; and coordination with currently funded capital renewal projects.

Synergy was found with two other projects brought forward within Chemistry with similar scope as the core project on the second and third floors. An agreement was reached with Chemistry, Natural Sciences, IPF and Facilities Planning and Space Management to add these spaces to the core project and utilize trades that are already mobilized in the building, allowing for cost effective and timely construction. 

Farm Lane Bridge Reconstruction

The $44 million project included demolishing and reconstructing the Farm Lane bridge, constructing a new pedestrian bridge, and resituating key utilities that the bridge carries. It also reconstructed Farm Lane between Auditorium Road and North Shaw Lane, including those intersections.

The bridge and adjacent road intersections were closed to vehicular traffic during summer semester 2023 to resituate the utility lines and construct the pedestrian bridge. During spring and part of summer semester 2024, the bridge, originally built in 1936, was closed and rebuilt.

At ACEC/Michigan’s 60th Engineering & Surveying Excellence Awards Gala, Fishbeck was honored with a Merit Award for their work on the Farm Lane Design/Build Bridge Replacement project for Michigan State University.

Farm Structure Demolition

Twenty-two structures in the farm district were razed. Completion of this project will avoid $5-7M in future capital renewal related expenditures. Of the 22 structures across six sites that were razed, many were sheds or storage buildings which had fallen into disrepair. This demolition project included safely removing hazardous materials and capping off utilities in these structures. Where possible the cement, bricks, and blocks from this project were crushed here on campus and recycled back into roads and walkways. 

Multicultural Center

The Multicultural Center fosters cultural and intellectual curiosity and understanding in a supportive, welcoming environment, to create a sense of belonging, support, and community among students, faculty, staff and alumni from all backgrounds and social identities. Project was completed one month after plan and on budget.

Large Animal Imaging Facility

The project repurposed the existing human imaging suite in the Clinical Center D-wing to accommodate a new large animal imaging facility project, developing a shared research facility supporting growth in the biomedical research using state-of-the-art imaging equipment, fostering scientific collaboration among investigators, and providing opportunities for industry engagement.

The University received a $6.7M grant from the National Institutes of Health, and Siemens Healthineers provided a clinical PET/MRI system (Biograph mMR 4T) valued at $5M which is integral to the project.

MSU Library: Special Collection Renovation and HVAC

The project included renovation of the third-floor East Wing of the Main Library to provide necessary improvements for proper temperature and humidity control necessary for long-term preservation. The work included environmental separation and isolation from the exterior building envelope, mechanically isolated to support stringent temperature and humidity controls; relocation of existing shelving and installation of new compact shelving; and workspace for professional staff, librarians, and archivists. Coordinated capital renewal improvements included replacement of supporting penthouse air-handling units and fourth-floor HVAC improvements.

The Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections is one of the world’s foremost collections of distinct materials scoped in popular culture, radicalism, Michigan authors, culinary materials, and rare books. Together the collections hold over 450,000 printed works, numerous manuscripts and archival collections, and an extensive collection of ephemera. The collection is valued at about $150 million. The Special Collections has outgrown its location in the basement of the Main Library. Relocating the collections to the third floor provided opportunity for processing the materials received as well as allowing researchers, students, and instructors to better engage with the collection of unique and rare materials. Located in the basement of the Main Library, the collections are in a floodplain and within space with an inadequate HVAC system for humidity and climate control for material preservation, putting the unique materials at risk.