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November 29, 2009

OU Regents to move forward with plans for social work building

By Julianna Parker Jones

The $11,440,000 project budget for the construction of the Anne and Henry Zarrow Hall at the University of Oklahoma will be under consideration from the OU Board of Regents Tuesday.

The board will meet to discuss the project as well as other agenda items at its regular meeting 3 p.m. in the scholars room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union at OU.

In March, OU announced a $5 million commitment to the School of Social Work from the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation of Tulsa for a new building for the school.

Anne and Henry Zarrow Hall will be constructed at the southwest intersection of Elm Avenue and Brooks Street, the previous site of the Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center.

The university will ask the Board of Regents to approve the design development phase plans for the building, which were prepared by Bockus Payne Associates Architects.

The building will be about 29,000 gross square feet and three stories. The new facility will include classrooms; distance learning and video-conferencing capabilities to link the Norman campus program with the OU-Tulsa program; a community room for continuing education and outreach programs; and faculty and administrative offices for the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work.

The board also will be asked to approve a revised estimate of costs for the project now that the designs are complete.

If the board approves the university's moving forward with the project, the agenda said it is anticipated that a recommendation for approval of the guaranteed maximum price for construction will be presented to the board in January 2010. Construction would begin in the spring of 2010, according to the agenda.

Funding for the project will come from discretionary university reserves, private sources, general revenue bonds, state bond proceeds and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds, the agenda said.

In other business Tuesday, the Board of Regents will be asked to approve the purchase of several properties near campus.

The properties at 1901, 1905, 1925 and 1927 Oklahoma Ave. are adjacent to the new Physical Plant complex at 705 E. Lindsey St. The property will be used for employee parking and yard space in support of Physical Plant shops (such as carpentry, pain and roads and hauling), according to the meeting agenda.

The board also will be asked to approved the purchase of property at 1322 Lincoln Ave., near the intersection of Lindsey Street and Jenkins Avenue.

"The location of the property makes it a strategic and desirable acquisition for the university," the agenda said. Real Estate Operations will lease the property until it is needed for other OU purposes.

Julianna Parker Jones 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

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