Latest Bond Sale Ushers in
21st Century UConn
State and University officials are ready to go to market with another $100 million in UConn 2000 bonds, the 11th sale since the program began in 1995, and the first to include significant funding for construction at the Health Center.
The sale will push the total amount bonded for construction at the Storrs and regional campuses to more than $1 billion. It marks the end of the UConn 2000 program and the beginning of 21st Century UConn.
“This is a significant milestone,” says Lorraine Aronson, chief financial officer. “It marks the end of one of the most significant university building programs ever undertaken, nationally or internationally, one that has made the University increasingly attractive to prospective students and faculty.”
Money raised from the new bond sale will be used to complete the Student Union and pharmacy building projects, design a new building to replace either Arjona or Monteith – the second of these will be replaced later, and renovate the Lakeside Apartments into offices. There will be renovations at the Avery Point, Hartford, and Stamford campuses; farm buildings and recreational areas will be restored and refurbished; and more than $30 million will be dedicated to deferred maintenance, equipment, library collections, and telecommunications.
At the Health Center in Farmington, work will begin on a new 200,000-square-foot research tower, which will include more than 30 laboratories and house a new Nuclear Medicine Research Program. Renovations are planned for the dental school, the library/student computer center, the main building, and the medical school’s academic building. In all, more than $16 million will be dedicated to the Health Center in 2005-06. During the course of 21st Century UConn, about $300 million is targeted for new and refurbished building projects.
The bonds are scheduled to be sold to the public March 7-8, and to institutional investors on March 9. Traditionally, says Jack Sullivan, manager of treasury services at UConn, about 40 percent of the high quality bonds are sold at retail.
“They’re very popular, and they sell quickly,” Sullivan says. “They are very strong and established, internationally recognized as a high-rated instrument.”
