Work on long-delayed UW Madison chemistry overhaul heads to bid soon

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Bids are set to open soon on a long-delayed overhaul of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s chemistry building after state officials signed off on the project earlier this week.

The state’s Building Commission approved a cost increase from $123 million to $133.1 million during a meeting Wednesday, endorsing the solicitation of bids in July for the more than three-year overhaul of the university’s chemistry complex. The price increase covers the installation of fire alarms and sprinkler systems, said Bob McMahon, a professor and chair of UW-Madison‘s chemistry department.

“If there’s a building in Madison you would have hoped to have fire sprinkler systems it would be the chemistry building,” McMahon said.

The project has been in the works for years after the university acquired land for the expansion in 2009. The project was enumerated in 2015, and the Building Commission approved a design report to embark on the addition for a total cost of $93.8 million, with $86.2 million coming from state borrowing. But as the cost of the project has increased, the state will borrow to cover $91.2 million, while the university contributes $41.9 million — $25.8 million in gifts, $16 million in grants.

UW’s chemistry complex is composed of three buildings, two of which date to the 1960s and one to 2000.

The overhaul calls for the construction of a 188,442-square-foot, 10-story tower that will house the university’s chemistry program. Overcrowding has been a pervasive problem in the department for years, McMahon said, as half of all undergraduate students take a chemistry course. Between the 1988 and 2012 academic years, the number of students taking classes in the chemistry building went up 70 percent.

The project also calls for a renovation of the Daniels chemistry building, which will begin after the tower is complete in two years. The overhaul will add safety upgrades to teaching labs, new classrooms and other improvements. Madison architectural firm Strang and Philadelphia-based Ballenger architects designed the building.

Groundbreaking for the tower, which is at the southwest corner of University Avenue and Mills Street in Madison, is anticipated for September, with the project reaching completion in October 2022.

“The action yesterday allows us to complete the entire project as envisioned in a single bid package,” McMahon said. “I can tell you from an educator’s point of view, that the project is extremely important to the undergraduate mission for stem education.” Follow @“natebeck9”