Ten-year Capital Forecast: FY2026 through FY2035

UPDATED TEN-YEAR CAPITAL FORECAST BACKGROUND

The Ten-Year Capital Forecast describes how OSU expects to provide—over the period of fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2035—for the physical environment necessary to conduct its mission. The capital forecast presents projects that cost $10M (million) or more, which go before the Board of Trustees for approval through a process of Stage Gate submittals. The capital forecast also presents minor projects (less than $10M) in aggregate. The forecast is sequenced by legislative biennium. Five biennia are covered in the 2026-2035 Capital Forecast: 2026-27, 2028-29, 2030-31, 2032-33 and 2034-35.

The Ten-Year Capital Forecast lays out OSU’s projections for capital investments based on current and anticipated conditions, needs, priorities, and resources. The forecast is guided by OSU’s Strategic Plan, Prosperity Widely Shared, and the Ten-Year Business Forecast. A broad array of campus leaders, staff, committees, programs and consultants provide input and assist in developing the Ten-Year Capital Forecast. The forecast considers OSU’s capital needs across the entire state.

The Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) is charged by the provost and vice president for Finance and Administration to develop the Ten-Year Capital Forecast using the Prosperity Widely Shared strategic plan as the lens for prioritization of projects expected to cost $10M or higher. In support of the IWG process, University Facilities, Infrastructure and Operations (UFIO) conducts interviews with every dean, major department, and major office to understand specific infrastructure needs. The IWG vets, prioritizes and recommends investments based on their effectiveness advancing Prosperity Widely Shared and their relationship to campus initiatives. A preliminary updated Ten-Year Capital Forecast is prepared for consideration by the vice president for Finance and Administration and the provost and executive vice president, who make a recommendation to the president for approval. The Ten-Year Capital Forecast is presented to the OSU Board of Trustees for acceptance as part of the annual Ten-Year Business Forecast.

Further details on the process and priorities of OSU’s Ten-Year Capital Forecast can be found at: https://ufio.oregonstate.edu/capital-forecast.

 

CAPITAL PROJECT PRIORITIZATION CRITERIA

The IWG evaluates each project based on four primary criteria:

  • Advancing OSU’s strategic plan
  • Minimizing the impact on environmental and financial resources
  • Cultivating a safer, more equitable, accessible, and welcoming environment
  • Leveraging funding
Advancing OSU’s Strategic Plan

Proposed projects must make a critical contribution to the advancement of OSU’s Strategic Plan Prosperity Widely Shared and support the unit’s strategic direction. The proposal should address how the capital project will advance one or more of the three goals, five actions, and top five targets of the plan:

Three Goals

  1. A university focused on big discoveries that drive big solutions
  2. A university where every student graduates
  3. A university that fuels a thriving world in every dimension

Five Actions

  1. Launch a campaign for timely undergraduate degree completion
  2. Build international research distinction in areas of competitive advantage
  3. Build faculty excellence
  4. Significantly increase enrollment online and at OSU-Cascades 5. Build an enterprise approach to knowledge translation, innovation, and partnerships

Top Five Targets

  1. Increase annual research expenditures to $600M
  2. Increase six-year graduation rate to 80 percent
  3. Equalize six-year graduation rates
  4. Increase online-only enrollment to 30,000
  5. Increase OSU-Cascades enrollment to 2,200

How Projects Meet the Criterion

The renovation of Gleeson Hall into a dense and effective fume hood research facility will add quality, capacity, and energy efficiency to OSU’s aged campus-wide fume hood infrastructure. This project will also allow right-sizing of fume-hood capacity in later renovations of Gilbert, Pharmacy and other fume-hood intense buildings in response to new chemistry research paradigms allowed by the supercomputer.

Transformations of Dearborn, Pharmacy and Gilbert Halls will not only improve efficiency and functionality but will purposefully reflect OSU’s mission and values and, again, respond to modern methods of research in coordination with the supercomputer. The replacement of Hatfield Marine Science Center’s (HMSC) main building (Building 900) will modernize and improve seawater, marine and climate research in ways that the aged and un-repairable building cannot. The addition of the Plant Science Research Center and high-bay research labs at the Radiation Center will vastly improve quality, efficiency and capacity of their research endeavors.

In Bend, OSU-Cascades’ Student Health and Recreation Center delivers a vital resource for student recreation and wellness as well as providing a key asset in attracting and retaining students. The Innovation District at OSU-Cascades will be a catalyst for innovation, fostering collaboration between industry, academia, and the regional community to drive sustainable economic development, and enhance educational and research opportunities.

The ability to attract, house and provide a transformative first-year experience to OSU’s students. Directly enhancing the university’s goals of student body growth and graduation rates is the focus of the Corvallis Campus Housing and Dining Vision. The multi-year program will increase the Corvallis campus housing capacity and modernize the current housing inventory. The first phase project of the Housing and Dining Vision is now within the board’s stage gate approval process.

Minimizing the Impact on Environmental and Financial Resources

Proposed projects will be evaluated for their effect on the cost of operating campuses and facilities, and their impact on the environment. Projects should:

  • Increase space efficiency and reduce the cost of maintenance and renewal
  • Reduce energy usage, promote renewable energy, and improve carbon reduction
  • Only involve new buildings when absolutely required.

How Projects Meet the Criterion

Stewardship of the university’s capital, operating funds and the environment is essential to how our physical assets enable OSU’s mission. Prioritization of projects and their scopes are influenced by and adhere to the comprehensive visions and long-term plans such as the Path to Carbon Neutrality and the Sustainable Transportation Strategy.

Building renewals, renovations and systems upgrades replace outdated infrastructure with modern, energy-efficient solutions. This reduces the accumulated deferred maintenance, and provides resilience, operational efficiency, and increased energy savings by linking and sharing cooling and heating systems to District Utility Plants.

Much of OSU’s carbon reduction and energy efficiency efforts have been and will be accomplished within the minor capital plan. The Solar Power Program has evaluated campus buildings and other opportunities for the placement of solar arrays. These will be included on major projects, if feasible, and are strongly considered as roofs are replaced on existing buildings, such as Milam Hall and the Valley Library. Deep energy efficiency projects, primarily updating the building controls program of energy-dense buildings, create energy savings paybacks in under five years.

Cultivating a Safer, More Equitable, Accessible and Welcoming Environment

Proposed projects should advance OSU’s commitment to creating a safer, more accessible, and welcoming place for all. Projects should:

  • Address how facilities and infrastructure will contribute to and support equitable outcomes for underrepresented students and employees, students and employees with disabilities, first generation students, and students with high financial need – in living, learning, teaching, research, and other uses.
  • Reduce physical and perceived barriers, and advance safety and well-being.
  • Improve access and internal circulation to our campuses and facilities for all modes of transportation with an emphasis towards sustainability, accessibility, and equity.
  • Address building and infrastructure renewal, reliability, and preservation as well as seismic and fire-life safety. 

How Projects Meet the Criterion

Prioritization of continuous improvements to safety, equity and accessibility is paramount to OSU’s mission. Projects are evaluated for how they advance the welcoming and equity goals established in the Corvallis Campus Vision, the Comprehensive Accessibility Plan and the OSU Transportation Plan.

The replacement of Campus Way for accessibility, bike and pedestrian safety and replacement of the street’s substantial underground infrastructure will be a major component of the renovation of Gleeson Hall.

Seismic safety improvements focused on life safety are part of the scope of all major renovations. Seismic safety is an important consideration in OSU’s minor capital roof replacement projects, taking advantage of the opportunity to strengthen the buildings under a new roof. Besides the research enhancing aspects of the project, the HMSC Building 900 replacement project will significantly increase safety over the original building which was designed before the seismic and tsunami threats were well known.

The Oregon Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory will increase safety for all Oregonians as it significantly increases the state’s ability to address public health threats such as avian influenza.

Major projects and renewals create buildings to our high standards of safety and accessibility, but many of the continued improvements to these systems occur within the minor Capital Plan. These improvements include renewals of fire and life safety systems, continual improvements to the accessible travel grid, and lighting safety as well as accessibility and gender-neutral upgrades to restrooms.

Leveraging Funding

Proposed projects which meet the criteria above will be additionally evaluated based on their ability to attract private gifts, grants, state bonding and other outside funding as well as those that can be advanced by internal OSU funding.

How Projects Meet the Criterion

The ability to fund projects within the Ten-Year Capital Forecast must be strongly considered. Projects, such as OSU-Cascade’s Innovation District, which have the ability to attract significant gifts or partnerships as well as fulfill the other three criteria, are more highly prioritized. The competitiveness of projects is based on both historic trends and the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s (HECC) rubric, which emphasizes the reduction of deferred maintenance, the impact on undergraduate and underserved students and the economy of the state as well as matching funds from gifts or the institution.

The potential use of OSU E&G Capital Improvement and Renewal (CIR) funds are also considered in prioritization. These funds come from OSU’s operating budget and prioritize the renewal of university research and education infrastructure. Many of these funds will be used as institutional matches to attract state funding for renovation and renewal projects that have less philanthropic interest, such as Gleeson, Pharmacy and Gilbert.

 

CAPITAL FORECAST PROJECT DETAILS FOR CORVALLIS AND NEWPORT

The 2026-2035 Ten-Year Capital Forecast represents a slower pace of building and infrastructure renewals compared with past forecasts. State funding for a major capital project at the Corvallis campus for the upcoming biennium appears unlikely. As such, the STEM Learning Center has been removed from the forecast and alternative plans to address Corvallis campus renewal are being developed. Also, the planned growth of Education and General (E&G) operating funds that OSU has dedicated to capital and infrastructure renewal has been further reduced to allow additional budget flexibility to address uncertainties in federal funding, the current budget realignment efforts, and a focus on Prosperity Widely Shared non-capital strategic actions. As a result, some projects that had appeared on earlier forecasts are now being pushed beyond the ten-year horizon.

Figure 1 below provides details about Corvallis and Newport major capital projects.

New Construction

While most of the Capital Forecast focuses on renewals and renovations, new construction is limited to facilities that cannot be created in a renovation. These include:

  • Oregon Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory (OVDL) ($75M-$85M) – Replaces the aged and out-of-date laboratory with a modern, much more capable facility. The OVDL will serve the State of Oregon’s agriculture industry with modern diagnostics capability to address threats such as avian influenza. The OVDL will also improve the education and training of OSU students to increase and improve capacity to provide veterinarians for the state and world.
  • Radiation Center High-Bay Addition ($8M-$13M) - OSU’s ability to grow grant-funded research is limited by the lack of available high-bay space near the reactor. This addition will increase OSU’s ability for research, research funding and education for undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Hatfield Marine Science Center Building 900 Replacement ($70M-$82M) – Replaces the OSU/Hatfield 900/904 Marine Research complex which houses seawater research labs, faculty and staff offices, classrooms, graduate student spaces and the HMSC Visitor Center. This building contains half of OSU’s marine research and teaching labs at Hatfield and the entirety of OSU’s seawater research and education capacity. The building has reached the end of its useful life and is beyond economical repair.
  • Plant Science Innovation Center ($65M-$75M) – Replaces (either on site or at a different location) the aged 1929 East Greenhouse range with a modern versatile greenhouse facility that will meet the changing needs of our current and future research and teaching programs.
  • Clark Meat Center Replacement ($20M-$30M) – Replaces the aged and outdated 1960s facility to become a next-generation food technology center. The building will serve educational, research and experiential roles.
  • Hinsdale Addition ($15M-19M) – Provides space for civil engineering research and testing laboratories.

Renovations

  • Gilkey Hall Full Renovation ($30M) – The renovation of Gilkey Hall was previously presented to the OSU Board of Trustees in the 2024-2025 biennium and approved at Stage Gate II with a $14M project budget. However, discovery of severe structural flaws that were not known until the building interior was removed compel a full structural renovation as well as systems replacement and programmatic improvements for the Counselling and Psychological Services program (important for student wellbeing), as well as the additional of general-purpose classrooms.
  • Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL) Modernization ($13.5M) –– Funded partially through an NIH Grant, the project will modernize the Integrated Specific Pathogen Free Zebrafish Core Facility.
  • Plageman Hall Repurpose ($21M) –Repurposes the old infirmary building for computational research space in complement to the HCIC.
  • Gleeson Hall Renovation ($55M-$59M) – Returns functionality to a research building with aged systems and a large amount of unusable space. Envisioned as a fume hoodintensive hub for all colleges preceding and enabling the renovation of fume hood-dense Gilbert Hall. This project will be coupled with the Campus Way Infrastructure project.
  • Rogers Hall Renewal ($24M-$28M) – Renews systems and research infrastructure in the Engineering Triangle.
  • Dearborn Hall Renovation ($55M-$65M) – Starts the renewal of the historic Engineering Triangle and updates this aged research building to modern purposes such as clean room research and education.
  • Pharmacy Building Renewal ($45M-$53M) – Renews and strengthens the building as well as re-organizes academic, research and administrative space and provides accessibility.
  • Batcheller and Covell Halls Renewal ($45M-$55M) – Envisions renewals and improvements to create modern and efficient academic and research space.
  • Gilbert Hall Renovation ($87M-$97M) – Addresses OSU’s energy-intensive and distressed fume hood research infrastructure creating a safe, energy-efficient, modern facility in complement and supplement to modern facilities like Linus Pauling Science Center and Johnson Hall.

Infrastructure

  • Campus Way Infrastructure Renewal ($13M) – Renews underground and surface infrastructure through the heart of campus and implements modern transportation, streetscape and accessibility improvements. Planned to be coupled with the renovation of Gilkey and/or Dearborn Halls.
University Housing and Dining Services & Student Affairs

Figure 2 below provides details about UHDS and Student Affairs projects.

Corvallis Campus Housing and Dining Vision (CCHDV) dominates the University Housing and Dining & Student Affairs section of the Ten-Year Capital Forecast. The goal of the vision is to increase campus housing capacity to house 30% of OSU’s students over ten years (currently 22%), including a larger first-year class currently limited by housing capacity. Both OSU and national data suggest that students who live on campus in their first year are more likely to graduate than those who do not.

  • CCHDV Phase I ($190M) – The first building of Phase I of the Corvallis Campus Housing and Dining Vision will add a new ~680 bed student living center to the south campus sector. This phase will also add an off-campus dining support facility to increase the capacity of on-campus dining centers to meet the increased demands.
  • Recreational Sports and Memorial Union Deferred Maintenance Projects (~ $200M over the forecast period) – Recreational Sports and Memorial Union (MU) bundled capital projects that address critical infrastructure and safety standards across iconic buildings in both departments including the roofs, mechanical systems, MU water infiltration mitigation/prevention, synthetic turf replacement, sports surfaces, swimming pool envelope, sky lights and flooring.
  • Family Resource Center Child Care /ECE Center & HDFS Lab Program (~$30M over the forecast period) - The Family Resource Center Child Care/ Early Care and Education (ECE) centers will provide onsite childcare for university employees, students, and possibly community members while supporting Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) and ECE practicum experiences for students.
Minor Capital Projects

Figure 3 below aggregates budgets for planned minor capital projects (those with budgets less than $10M).

 

CAPITAL FORECAST DETAILS FOR OSU-CASCADES

To meet the State of Oregon’s goals for higher education in central Oregon, OSU will expand the Bend campus through land improvements, infrastructure, and buildings over the next decade to meet the Strategic Plan goal of 2,200 students at OSU-Cascades by 2030.

Figure 4 below details the OSU-Cascades projects.

E&G buildings

  • Student Health and Recreation Center ($84M) - An E&G and student fees-supported project that remediates land to prepare for future campus growth while also building a health and recreation center vital to student recreation and wellness and key to attracting and retaining students. In all our requests and recent capital requests we show this as $84M ($42M State / $31M OSU / $7M Donors / $4M Grant).
  • Student Residential Building ($42.5M) – Adds on-campus residential space for approximately 175 students. This project is necessary to reach the Strategic Plan goal of 2,200 students by 2030. Estimated construction in FY26-28.
  • Maintenance and Engineering Facility ($8.3M) – Adds a necessary resource for the growing campus and includes configurable space for industrial/engineering research. Replaces inadequate temporary facilities currently in use (shipping containers and tension-fabric structure).
  • Academic Building 3 ($102M) – Provides for growth in teaching and student laboratory programs.

Other Buildings

  • Innovation District Building 1 – Mixed Use Commercial Building ($55.6M) - Will be developed in a real estate deal or public private partnership to meet OSU, partner, and industry needs. May utilize private equity/debt or OSU equity/debt. Estimated construction in FY26-27.
  • Innovation District Building 2 – Market Rate Housing ($69M cost to third party) – Planned to be the first building constructed in the Innovation District through either a real estate deal or a public private partnership. Estimated construction in FY26-27.
  • Innovation District Building 3 – Mixed Use Commercial Building ($50.7M) - Will be developed in a real estate deal or public private partnership to meet OSU, partner, and industry needs. Estimated construction in FY30-31.
  • Innovation District Building 4 – Mixed Use Commercial Building ($56.0M) - Will be developed in a real estate deal or public private partnership to meet OSU, partner, and industry needs. Estimated construction in FY32-33.
  • Innovation District Building 5 – Mixed Use Commercial Building ($61.7M) - Will be developed in a real estate deal or public private partnership to meet OSU, partner, and industry needs. Estimated construction in FY36-37.
  • Mt. Washington Row Housing ($35.6M cost to third-party) – Housing development on the western edge of the OSU-Cascades campus. Will be developed by a third-party developer in a real estate or public private partnership deal. Includes street and utilities improvements on and off campus.