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STARKVILLE — With students gone for the summer, construction projects at Mississippi State’s campus are well underway.
MSU Executive Director of Campus Services Saunders Ramsey told The Dispatch that the projects happening on campus are being pursued with students in mind.
“You just kind of see that everywhere we go and everything we do is really focused on the student experience and making sure that they have the best learning environment possible,” Saunders said.
What projects are underway this summer? When will they be finished? What is on the schedule for next year?
Current projects
Since June 6, a section of College View Drive, from Bailey Howell Drive to Giles Hall, has been closed for a $3 million extension of Bost Drive.
The new road will connect to College View at the intersection of Bailey Howell Road and is expected to be complete in August.
Ramsey said the extension is part of a larger $50 million project to update the College of Architecture, Art and Design that also includes a complete renovation of Howell Hall. Expanding the road now will open up the door for future updates, he said.
“Eventually when the football stadium is expanded one day, B.S. Hood — which runs between the football stadium and Barnes and Noble — will be closed,” he said. “So when we were designing the College of Architecture, Art and Design project (and) started thinking about transportation needs and future changes, this was the time to go ahead and reroute College View into Bost Drive.”
Ramsey said the area between Howell and Giles Hall that is currently College View will be turned into a pedestrian plaza for outdoor use. The renovation of Howell Hall is expected to be completed by 2026.
The new Azalea Hall is another project that aims to improve the student experience. The nearly $100 million project will build a new residence hall complete with a new dining facility, which Ramsey said will fill a void of dining options on the north side of campus.
Utility work has started for the new building, which is expected to open by fall 2025.
Ramsey said there are also several paving projects going on this summer, including the RecPlex and Palmerio parking lots.
A $2.5 million interior renovation of the Joe Frank Sanderson Center is also in progress. The update includes adding a new exercise space and rock climbing wall as well as Americans with Disabilities Act updates and a new egress stairway.
That project, Ramsey said, is a student led initiative. In 2022, the MSU Student Association facilitated a referendum to raise the student activity fee to provide funding for the renovation.
“They’re repurposing things that aren’t as popular now, like racquetball (courts),” he said. “They’re repurposing it into things students wanted like rock climbing walls.”
The new Jim and Thomas Duff Center will be home to the university’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic and Department of Kinesiology and is under construction at the campus core near the Drill Field. The building is expected to be completed by next fall.
Future plans
Campus updates over the next year include a new $35 million mechanical plant near Dorman Hall that will open in 2026. The plant will provide cooling and hot water to buildings, Ramsey said.
“We already have a central plant that does that, but with our growth, we’ve reached the capacity of that plant,” he said.
Ramsey said planning has also started for enhancements to Hardy Road, which connects Blackjack Road to East Lee Boulevard. Improvements on the road are intended to make it safer for pedestrians, Ramsey said.
“(It’s) probably too early to speak specifically on that project other than it’s going to happen,” he said. “There’s so much student housing on the east side of campus now that a lot of students are walking and parking on the east side of campus and walking into the core of campus, and so Hardy Street is seeing a significant uptick in pedestrian crossings. We’re just trying to make it safer.”
That project, Ramsey said, may start at the end of this year with hopes to be finished by next summer.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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