University of Minnesota confronts growing backlog of building repairs

Kahina Boukherroub recently got a grant to research declines in turkey fertility, but instead of working at her St. Paul campus, she'll have to fly to Maryland to complete the animal trials because of the University of Minnesota's obsolete facilities.

The Poultry Teaching and Research Facility, too hot and poorly ventilated to house turkeys for long periods, is just one example of a larger problem.

University of Minnesota officials say the backlog of repairs needed at crumbling, outdated buildings across its five campuses has reached a crisis point — and they're asking for $200 million this legislative session just to sustain them.

"This is incredibly important — [facilities are] a recruitment and retention tool," said Alice Roberts-Davis, the U's vice president of university services. "My biggest concern is that when we don't offer the facilities that people are looking for … they leave the state and then they stay there."

The U's system encompasses about 30 million square feet of space, spread across 1,000 buildings; a quarter are in poor or critical condition. Officials plan to ask for money in 2025 to repair about 80 buildings, 50 of them on the Twin Cities campus, though buildings on the Morris campus are in the poorest condition. The funding is in addition to the U's annual operating budget request, which totals $741 million this year, plus a $235 million recurring increase by the end of the biennium.

This type of support, called Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) funding, is sought every year, Roberts-Davis said, but capital funding has been received in just five of the past 10 years.

Last year, the U took a "bold new approach" and asked for $500 million in such funding, which can only be used for infrastructure like exterior repairs, new roofs and HVAC upgrades, she said. But the Legislature didn't pass a bonding bill, leaving the university and many others empty-handed.

"They don't seem to have a plan to invest," said Roberts-Davis of the Legislature. "I don't know what the end game is. What happens to these buildings at the end of the day?"

Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, said he doesn't question the U's need to repair buildings since many of the problems are clearly visible. But Pelowski, chair of the House's higher education policy and finance committee, noted that the U also plans to ask for $200 million for asset preservation in 2026 and 2027, along with more than $400 million for other projects.

"My question is, why hasn't this been your top priority in every session over the last decade, because this is an accumulated list of needs," he said. "You take care of that first before you come at the Legislature for new buildings."

The state would have to pass a "robust" bonding bill to fund the U's request, since Minnesota State and many other groups will also bring their own infrastructure requests, he said.

Backlog of building repairs

Bill Maki, Minnesota State's vice chancellor for finance and facilities, said their 2025 request isn't finalized, but officials plan to ask for a similar amount for asset preservation as last year — about $200 million.

Minnesota State is doing something new this year — including $75 million for deferred maintenance and demolition in its operating budget request — because of the dire need, Maki said.

Minnesota State has requested $1 billion in asset preservation dollars since 2012 but received less than 25% of it, he said. Projects in need of funding include a new roof at Anoka Technical College, costing $5.3 million.

"We have an obligation to keep our students and faculty safe, warm and dry, and we need to ensure these facilities are maintained," he said.

Roberts-Davis said the U and Minnesota State formed a coalition last year to ask the Legislature for funding, hoping they'd make a stronger case together.

"The idea is, these are state-owned buildings or state-invested buildings … and so [legislators] are reinvesting in them for their upkeep," she said.

The U's total backlog of repairs is $6 billion, she said, which would bring every building to current standards.

"The concern is these buildings continue to deteriorate," she said. "They don't ever get better, they only get worse."

Some students come from high schools that are more sophisticated than U buildings and expect similar facilities at college, she said.

Failing to renovate or build new facilities could have a detrimental effect on the U's bottom line, and it will eventually result in a lower research ranking, Shashank Priya, the U's vice president for research and innovation, explained at the September Board of Regents meeting.

Universities receive less reimbursement from research sponsors for certain costs when they don't have up-to-date labs and core buildings, he said, adding that the U's reimbursement rate for these "indirect costs" recently declined. The government sets the rate that each university is reimbursed by sponsors for costs like scientific journals, custodial services and building utilities.

University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham said at that board meeting that when she heard the U's reimbursement rate had dropped, she "almost passed out." New buildings and technologies "can't be seen as extra or too fancy" but as necessary to stay competitive.

Preserving old U buildings

About 40 buildings on the Twin Cities campus, split between two main historic areas, are on the National Register of Historic Places. The districts include Northrop Mall and the "old campus" along University Avenue, said Ginny Way, National Register architectural historian for the State Historic Preservation Office.

Within the old campus area sits Eddy Hall, built in 1886 and now the university's oldest building. Today, its interior features peeling paint, an occasional dead mouse on the stairs and the smell of decay. Eddy Hall has been mothballed since 2011 as the U awaits $12 million from the Legislature to gut and rebuild it.

Other historic buildings nearby also need help. Some have foundations that need waterproofing while others require new windows. Burton Hall's stately pillars are crumbling from water damage even as students attend classes there.

"It's important to take care of and preserve our existing buildings and landscapes," Way said. "Not only is it the sustainable choice, but it helps us understand the continuum of history."

The U tries to repurpose old buildings whenever possible, though some structures aren't as adaptable as others, said Andrew Chan, the U's facilities portfolio manager.

The College of Education and Human Development wants to create a student services hub at Eddy Hall and would contribute $12 million to $15 million to the project. Eddy will appear in the U's 2025 funding request, Chan said on a recent campus tour.

"It's kind of idling," he said. "This one's a special case and I think it's a pretty easy argument [for renovation]."

Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, is chair of the Senate's capital investment committee. She's "very disappointed" the state hasn't contributed much toward the U's capital needs in recent years, noting that the Legislature "skipped" several bonding years, she said. A decade ago, the U and Minnesota State would probably have received a third of the bonding bill to split between them, which would have been $300 million or more last year.

"We've seen the state not paying attention to our higher ed institutions because there's so much demand for infrastructure help from … local governments," she said.

She hopes to bring last year's bonding bill back this session and then allot additional money to the U, she said, though any bonding bill requires a supermajority – and therefore bipartisan support.

Last year's bonding bill would have brought the U just $60 million. Getting more than that will be challenging, she said.

One of the projects the U is seeking funding for is $5 million to update its Poultry Teaching and Research Facility on its St. Paul campus, in part so it can accommodate turkeys during the summer.

"Any work really with any birds, but specifically with turkeys, is really hard to do because of our outdated facilities," said Boukherroub, the U professor slated to head to Maryland for research. "And it's a shame, because we are … the No. 1 turkey producer in the U.S."