Sacramento State is taking a step forward in an attempt to improve old buildings and create more space for students with new construction projects.

According to Matthew Altier, Associate Vice-President of Facilities Management, Sac State will begin constructing new buildings for classrooms and a possible move for the Capital Public Radio station.

In addition to future construction, Sac State started the fall semester with the Sept. 3 opening of Parking Structure 2, located on the corner of University Drive.

In an effort to aid students with their success in class, CSUS will begin construction on the Academic Information Resource Center in Spring 2003, with plans to open Fall 2004 at a cost of nearly 25 million dollars.

The AIRC, which will be located behind the library, will provide students with quiet study areas and a new computer lab, Altier said.

The CSUS Foundation will begin construction within the next 60 days on Modoc Hall, which will undertake Foundation projects such as the United States Geological Survey. The projected cost of this construction is approximately 13 million dollars.

Sac State is also looking into the possibility of moving the Capital Public Radio Station from rented space on American River Drive to the south end of campus.

According to Altier, plans for the move will go up for bid by late October with expectations of a contract by early November.

-Plans are also being discussed for a building tentatively called Surge, which will be located behind University Union. The Surge building will cost 1.4 million dollars to build and will contain faculty offices and classrooms.

The Surge building will contain a modular wall system to accommodate the needs of Sac State. For example, the walls could be maneuvered to create more classrooms for students, Altier said.

If approved in November, money from Proposition 47 will be used to fund construction of new classrooms, modernization of existing school facilities, seismic upgrades and high-tech equipment installations. Allocation of funds for the higher education projects at Sac State will be nearly 1.6 billion dollars.

” Prop 47 is important to us and other CSU campuses because if the bond issue passes it will fund many of the projects that are on the CSU wide system list,” said Altier.

Funding for campus projects will come from the Capital Outlay Program, a five-year program outlining a list of projects, updated annually.

“Each of the 23 CSU campuses puts together a list of capital projects every year in a priority order and submits those lists to the Board of Trustees for approval,” Altier said. “Our campus does the same. The Council for University Planning, the president?s staff and ultimately the president review and approve our list before it is sent to the BOT.”