Rules changed after prior UO project caught officials by surprise.

Byline: The Register-Guard

By the time Bob Simonton heard the University of Oregon was remodeling its Casanova Center to the tune of several million dollars, the building already had a hole in it the size of a truck.

That's a bit unusual because Simonton is the Oregon University System assistant vice chancellor in charge of campus construction, and any project of that size typically comes across his desk before work begins. The fact that the 2006 Casanova project did not do so ultimately led to changes in OUS rules for "gifted building" projects such as the Casanova upgrade or the proposed UO athlete academic center.

With gifted buildings, a donor leases land on campus, constructs a building, then hands ownership to the university. Before the state changed the rules earlier this year, they didn't specifically require state universities to tell the state about such projects.

That allowed the UO to begin altering the state-owned Casanova Center without informing, much less seeking permission from, the state Board of Higher Education.

Simonton said he first heard about the project while listening to a Duck basketball game on the radio. Then-Athletic Director Bill Moos was being interviewed and mentioned that a $6 million upgrade - as Simonton recalls it - was under way. (On another occasion, Moos said the project was costing $8 million.)

"I immediately sat straight up and said, `What? I don't remember that.' I would have remembered a $6 million project," said Simonton, who is based in Eugene. "So I drove over there and walked around the back and saw this gaping hole in the side of the building you could drive a semi-truck through."

The incident prompted the board to tighten the rules on leases of university property. At the time the UO started the Casanova project the rules lacked any clear reporting requirement, Simonton said.

The new rules require public universities to secure board approval before granting leases for major work on university property. For the proposed athlete academic center on Franklin Boulevard, the UO has sought board approval.

OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner said the new rules reflect the state's interest in ensuring that buildings destined to become part of the state university system meet the same quality standards as publicly financed buildings.

- Greg Bolt