Feature

Old buildings bring new problems: Critical state funds needed for University’s infrastructure

Icicles form inside the leaking ceiling in the Washington Avenue Bridge enclosure.
Icicles form inside the failing Washington Avenue Bridge enclosure.

Outdated mechanical systems, leaking roofs that hinder energy and sustainability goals, and even basic upgrades, make it daunting for the University of Minnesota to continue groundbreaking research and educate the next generation of doctors, scientists, teachers, and more.

Severely eroded and ruptured natural gas pipe in Crookston's heating plant.
Ruptured natural gas pipe in Crookston's Heating Plant.

“We have old buildings,” Vice President for University Services Alice Roberts-Davis said during her testimony at the Minnesota House Higher Education Committee meeting. “The majority of our inventory is over fifty years old, and we’re learning that old buildings create new problems.”

It’s especially concerning when nearly one-third (or 8.8 million square feet) of the 30 million square feet across the University are in poor or critical condition.

That’s where the University’s 2025 Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) $200 million request to the state legislature comes in—a category of state capital investment to protect and extend the life of existing higher education facilities.

While HEAPR is the most cost-effective investment the University can make in partnership with Minnesota legislators to protect and extend the lifespan of existing facilities, state investment has declined over the years. The University only received HEAPR funds in four of its last ten requests.

Bar graph comparing the amount of HEAPR dollars requested vs HEAPR dollars received in the last 10 years with a subhead that reads Appropriations have met only 7% of the University's request.

This year's $200 million request is the minimum amount required to keep the $6 billion backlog in needed repairs from growing.

“This is not just about buildings,” Roberts-Davis said. “This is really about what students need and expect when they enter our facilities.”

Modern learning environments support collaboration and student-teacher interaction; accessible ADA amenities, such as elevators, ensure that all students, faculty, and staff have equal access to all building floors; and new HVAC systems keep buildings comfortable and safe.

Some of these needed repairs across the University include:

Discolored, leaking ceiling above a wall lined with books.
The leaking ceiling in Morris’s Briggs Library threatens its collections.
  • Crookston: Replacing deteriorated equipment inside the Heating Plant and utility campus infrastructure to help avoid future mechanical failures that could cause disruption of heating to the entire campus.
  • Duluth: Replace the over 40-year-old HVAC system and Replace the over 40-year-old HVAC system and address code and facility infrastructure issues in Library Annex to support a larger University and donor-funded project that will create a student-focused space for the Labovitz School of Business and Economics.
  • Morris: Increase accessibility and life-safety systems for approximately 8,000 weekly visitors to Briggs Library and better protect collections from humidity and environmental damage through insulation and window updates.
  • Twin Cities: Replace aged infrastructure and provide extensive code and life-safety improvements for the 1950s-era Food Science and Nutrition building in St. Paul to create a modern teaching and research facility for 24 faculty, 350 undergraduate, and 100 graduate students. In addition, the Washington Avenue Pedestrian Bridge perimeter railing system requires a safer option, as well as complete rehabilitation of the failing enclosure.
New silver and white pipes line the top and sides of a mechanical room.
The centralized mechanical room in the portion of the old (north) wing of the Mechanical Engineering building was renovated in part with funds from the University’s 2020 request.

Some past projects completed with HEAPR funding include renovation of the Twin Cities’ Mechanical Engineering building and Andrew Boss Laboratory, and major improvements in Duluth’s Sports and Health Center and Natural Resources Research Institute, Morris’s Blakely Hall and Student Center, and Crookston’s Owen Hall and Dowell Hall. In the past decade across all five campuses, an additional $35 million has been invested into roof replacements and other building envelope repairs, $15 million for elevator modernization, $15 million for Fire and Life Safety improvements, and more than $10 million for critical utility system renewal.

To advocate for the University’s HEAPR request:

  • Become a UMN Advocate: Gain knowledge from Government and Community Relations on the legislative process and help shape the outcome by reaching out to elected officials during the legislative session at key times.
  • Stay informed on updates across the University related to individual and collaborative efforts to elevate the breadth of student, faculty, and staff success. 
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