It’s been nearly a decade of delays, but the University of Guam is just about ready to begin construction of two long-awaited buildings, albeit at a higher price tag due to the increased costs of construction.
The School of Engineering building and the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Student Success Center are anticipated to be completed in August 2024 and December 2024, respectively, according to Jonas Macapinlac, UOG chief marketing and communications officer. Macapinlac said the designs for both buildings are nearly complete.
What was a $5.4 million contract with Bascon Corp. to build the new School of Engineering is now a $7.9 million contract with Future World Inc., he told the Journal.
Zhong Ye Inc. was the original contractor for a $15 million student center. That too has changed. Reliable Builders Inc. is the new contractor. The cost of that construction is $22.9 million. Demolition has already begun. Surrounding the old student center are tarps to help minimize the spread of debris on the northeast corner of the campus center.
“Because of increased costs of construction, the University needed an additional $9.1 million to fund the difference from the original USDA loan,” Macapinlac said.
Macapinlac said UOG requested additional funding from the governor and the legislature last fiscal year.
Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor’s director of communications; confirmed Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero agreed to provide $7.1 million.
Macapinlac said the remaining $2 million is from repurposed UOG American Rescue Plan funds.
With regard to the USDA loan, there were “some delays, but we are in the final stages of the process with USDA,” he said.
Chris J. Kanazawa, State Director for Hawaii, American Samoa, and the Western Pacific at USDA Rural Development, said the loan is moving forward, though he couldn’t share the details of the transaction with UOG.
“I can tell you that Rural Development’s loan to UOG has been approved and we were waiting for UOG to complete its agreement for interim construction financing through another lender,” Kanazawa said.
The previous delays were due to multiple issues, according to Journal files. Because UOG did not complete the project within five years of when the USDA loan was signed in 2014, under federal rules, interim financing from a private firm must now secured to jumpstart the project. Toward the end, USDA would then reimburse what was borrowed.
In 2019, Joseph Diego, area director of the USDA Rural Development Office for the Western Pacific, told the Journal that as the five-year period ended “we had to tell them they couldn’t do anything.” At that point, Diego said USDA was working with UOG on a new application to reset the timeline for the loan. Diego also said that some of the factors that led to the delay included trouble getting contractors.
As to why the contractors that originally secured the awards changed, Macapinlac said timing was the issue. "It was a long process to finalize the USDA loan."
Fast forward to 2023, and UOG is looking ahead to fulfilling its Vision 2025, of which the student center, which will be named the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Student Success Center, and the engineering building are a part. A rendering of the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Student Success Center. Construction is expected to be completed December 2024.
The student center is expected to provide students with a one-stop location for all their needs, including health and financial aid offices, a space for student organizations, a common dining area with food vendors, a meeting space for students, Title 9 offices to address equal employment and disability access, as well as offices for security and graduate studies.
The engineering building should include three classrooms, four science labs, one computer lab, faculty offices, conference room, administration area and a student project room.
In the Fiscal Year 2014 Citizen Centric Report, the vision touted a “21st century campus that enhances the university’s role as an essential resource to Guam and the region.” Macapinlac said through the next two years, the University of Guam campus will grow. In addition to the student center and engineering building, there will be a new UOG Nursing Annex, and a new facility for the Water & Environmental Research Institute. The latter two buildings are both expected to be completed in April 2025.
These buildings will add more than 85,000 square feet of classrooms, office space, laboratories, collaboration spaces, and areas for students to gather, study, and socialize, including a new dining hall and food court, according to Macapinlac. The bid for a two-story, 12,000 square foot Nursing Annex and a three-story 13,000 Water and Environmental Research Institute and Water Quality Lab is expected to be published in April.
Currently, UOG is working through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s specific award conditions that are required prior to bid publication. The design for both buildings has been completed. mbj
