LEWISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday bestowed $13 million on Bucknell and Susquehanna universities for major projects all sides believe will give a boost to the local economy.
“Everyone is keenly aware the American economy is challenged,” the governor said at Bucknell’s Weis Center for the Performing Arts. “We decided in Harrisburg we weren’t going to wait for Washington. We decided to craft our own economic stimulus plan.”
The plan includes the investment of $642 million of state money on projects in 25 counties. Union and Snyder counties will receive $15 million, most of it going to the universities.
Bucknell received $9 million for its Lewisburg Core Community Initiative (LCCI), which includes plans to relocate the campus bookstore and an administrative office building into the downtown, renovations to the Campus Theatre and the construction of an inn and conference center.
“This is as important to Lewisburg, and really the whole region, as it is to Bucknell,” Rendell said. “You can’t have viable downtowns without something to attract people to those downtowns.”
Click just below to hear more comments from Gov. Rendell.
Bucknell President Brian C. Mitchell said he believes the state’s pledge will create opportunities for the university to attract funds from other sources.
“Thanks to this grant, we can look forward to the plans of the LCCI turning into reality,” he said. “This grant recognizes that town-gown partnerships are vital to the commonwealth. ... This will both transform our campus and our community.”
Bucknell spokesman Tom Evelyn said the total price tag on the project comes to about $100 million. The university is trying to secure other state grants and funds from private developers to put toward the project.
The governor also granted $4 million to Susquehanna for the construction of a 75,000-square-foot science building.
The three-story building, which has been in the planning stages for five years, will cost $33 million and meet federal green standards, making use of geothermal heat and recycled construction materials.
While it may be “just a science building,” Rendell said, “it’s a science building that’s going to lead to the incubation of a lot of new businesses and new ideas. The state has a very, very strong interest in producing scientists and engineers and mathematicians because that’s how we’re going to remain competitive in the global marketplace.”
Rendell said he began to recognize the merits of the project after Susquehanna President Jay Lemons and other university officials “cornered” the governor after he spoke at commencement in May.
“If you keep coming up with good projects, we’ll keep coming back,” Rendell said.
The science building is scheduled to be completed by 2010.
The rest of the grant money will be put toward repairing a Union County bridge spanning the Bull Run tributary in East Buffalo Township that has 3,000 crossings a day, and toward repairs of bridges over Mahantango and Middle creeks in Snyder County.
Among all the projects, including the bridge work, 164 jobs would be created and 85 would be protected, Rendell said.
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