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Spring start on Canisius' science building

Business First - by Allissa Kline
February 9, 2011

A $16 million financing deal, coupled with a $2 million grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation, will support the first phase of Canisius College’s upcoming $68 million Science Hall building project.

The college announced Wednesday that it plans to begin renovations of the atrium and first floor of the former HealthNow building in late May. It wants to start using the building in fall 2012.

As part of the first phase of the project, the college said it will locate its new Institute for Autism Research on the first floor, along with the Office of Pre-Health/Pre-Professions Program, the math department and laboratories for science education and robotics. A series of classrooms, two computer labs, two conference rooms, student and faculty lounges, a cafe and student mailboxes are also part of the plan.

The atrium will provide space for student and faculty projects and special exhibits from the Buffalo Museum of Science, the college said. It will also provide room for the annual mini-zoo organized by the Canisius Zoological Society.

Canisius closed on the $16 million financing package in December. Officials said funding was made available via M&T Bank and the Erie County Industrial Land Development Corp., an affiliate of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.

The $2 million grant from the Oishei Foundation is the largest single private donation for the project. The college said it must raise $1 million on its own in order to receive the full grant.

Canisius acquired the Main Street property for $18.5 million in November of 2008, bringing the total cost of the project to more than $86 million. The four-story building is comprised of 237,000 total square feet, with 170,000 net usable square feet, set on three and a half acres. It includes a

three-level parking ramp with 1,350 spaces. The college currently uses the first and second floors of the ramp.

Additional phases will deal with the renovation of the lower, second and third levels of the building, the college said. The Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relationships, along with physics and computer science labs and select chemistry instrumentation rooms, will be located on the lower level, the college said. The upper floors will contain the chemistry/biochemistry, biology and computer science departments, including classrooms, faculty offices and teaching and research labs.

Much of the college’s ongoing capital campaign, A Legacy of Leadership, will support the building project. To date, $80.2 million of the $90 million goal has been raised, the college said. It previously received $7 million from the state and $400,000 from the federal government for the project.