LOCAL

Bids for new BSU project below $49 million

Seth Slabaugh
The Star Press
Architect Brock Roseberry of  Ratio unveils a drawing of the front elevation of Ball State University's new health professions building.

MUNCIE, Ind. — Construction companies this week submitted bids that were well below what Ball State University estimated it would cost to build its momentous new Health Professions Building.

Wilhelm Construction, Indianapolis, offered the apparent low base bid of $40,687,000.

Three other Indianapolis contractors, Messer Construction, Turner Construction, and Sheil Sexton, turned in base bids ranging from $41,496,000 to $42,700,000.

Ball State estimated the cost at $49,301,507.

Even with alternate bids adding to the base cost for extra products — like a green roof, a snow melting system, smart glass windows and automatic control of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting and other systems — it appears the project will cost millions less than the estimate.

Ball State's College of Health will be under construction soon.

The project will house the newly formed College of Health on the south side of Riverside Avenue just east of Martin Street.

The notice to bidders said the building will incorporate two main architectural forms: a four-story mass and a five-story mass, both connected by a main central core. In addition, the building will incorporate a partial basement and penthouse.The structure will be primarily steel frame with a concrete deck.The exterior skin will generally consist of brick, glass, and limestone in addition to a small portion of terra cotta and metal panel.

State awards $87.5 million for BSU project

Why a state senator called Cooper Science 'atrocious'

Ball State officials have called the new College of Health "momentous," "monumental," and "generational," comparable to past decisions to create the College of Fine Arts, the College of Architecture and Planning and the College of Communication, Information and Media.

Spokesperson Joan Todd said groundbreaking is planned late this month. Completion of construction is expected in two years (June of 2019).

The main entry, including a two-story atrium and a wood feature, faces Riverside, but there really isn't a back side to the structure. A south porch will face the new East Quad space. The back of the building also includes a glassy indoor-outdoor courtyard environment that exposes what's going on inside the building.

The new college's portfolio incorporates nursing, speech pathology/audiology, social work, health science, nutrition/dietetics, counseling psychology and kinesiology, which includes exercise science, sport administration, athletic training and sports medicine, sport and exercise psychology, fitness leadership, physical education-teacher education, and pre-professional training for physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine and other health-related fields.

The college also includes 20 or so clinics, laboratories and centers, some of which will serve the community, some of which will be federally funded research engines and some of which will be teaching labs. Such facilities include an adult physical fitness center, a center for autism, the Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology, the Human Performance Lab and a speech language clinic.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.