U of M in Rochester planning for future growth

The University of Minnesota campus in Rochester is planning for future growth.

UMR officials told the University of Minnesota Board of Regents Thursday they want to lease 24,000 square feet of classroom space in a facility the city of Rochester hopes to build with a developer. The school opened for classes last fall in a converted shopping mall in downtown Rochester.

"It will be a new building that will be constructed, hopefully we will break ground this spring, and it is scheduled to be complete fall 2011, that's when we need the additional academic space," said Stephen Lehmkuhle, chancellor at the U of M Rochester.

Lehmkuhle said the building would also include rental apartments for 150 to 170 students. The facility's $5.8 million price tag would be covered by sales tax revenue from the city.

University officials also hope to buy two parcels of land in downtown Rochester to set aside for a 10-acre campus that could be built sometime in the next decade.

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