THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University officials will be making a seven-figure ask of Thunder Bay city council on Monday night.
A trio of senior university leaders will be making a deputation to council, requesting $1 million for the construction and renovation costs of the new Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences building.
The new building will take the place of the existing forestry and natural resources building, immediately south to the Chancellor Paterson Library.
A copy of a presentation from the university said the building will include state-of-the-art laboratory space for a number of the school’s Canada Research Chairs, facilities for a laboratory management training program, and the Lakehead University Centre for Analytical Services, which will include transmission electron microscopes and an x-ray photoelectron spectroscope. Other specialized laboratories would be included for integrated freshwater science, human origins and biomass utilization.
Another component of the building is the Ingenuity business incubator space, which would be open to both students and community members to support student innovation, entrepreneurship and small business start-ups.
“Lakehead University students, researchers, innovation support staff, community partners and entrepreneurs will thrive in this new environment to develop and commercialize new technologies, ideas and industrial processes,” the request from university vice president of external relations Deb Comuzzi reads.
The university has secured $22.9 million of the total $26.2 million capital and equipment costs, including a total of nearly $9 million from the federal government and an additional $6.5 from the province.
Lakehead proposes offering the city perpetual naming rights for the atrium, which is described as highly visible and the main gathering space within the new building.
The city had previously contributed $1 million to the university in 2008 for research expansion.
Confederation College had received $500,000 through the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission for the construction of their TEC Hub building.
