While not constrained by either Albemarle County or the City of Charlottesville, the University of Virginia is a public body governed by an appointed Board of Visitors. The group meets at the Boar’s Head Resort this week, and one item on the agenda is renewed scrutiny of future construction projects.
“The first two quarters of 2025 have brought significant financial uncertainty to higher education and to UVA, with cuts to federal grants and contracts and layoffs of federal workers, many of whom are Virginia citizens,” reads a staff report for the Buildings and Grounds Committee.
One step being taken is to identify projects and studies that can be postponed. So far, drastic cuts are not envisioned because hundreds of millions of dollars in construction is underway, such as the Karsh Institute of Democracy and the new Virginia Guesthouse hotel.
The major capital plan adopted by the BOV in June 2024 totaled $2 billion. The one proposed for next fiscal year is only slightly smaller at $1.85 billion, with reductions so far mostly restricted to a pause on future studies.
Three previously approved projects, including the renovation of Pinn Hall’s second floor, have been removed, saving $76.9 million. Two studies that will not be conducted include one on the future of Warner Hall and a reconfiguration of buildings used by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Another 12 future projects will be deferred because no funding has been identified. These include a new building to house the School of Architecture’s Center for Design, an academic building for the School of Design, and an expansion of the UVA Child Development Center.
Many projects that do have financial plans in place are still scheduled to move to construction. These include a $38 million conversion of UVA’s main heat plant to allow an end to the use of coal; a $72 million data center for UVA research; and a $20 million renovation of a faculty building at the Darden School of Business. A second building for the School of Data Science—estimated at $77 million—will proceed in part because of a $20 million gift from the Quantitative Foundation toward construction.
In all, the proposed capital plan includes $1.35 billion in construction funds over the next five years.
This will be the first full meeting for new BOV member and former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli. Governor Glenn Youngkin fired Bert Ellis from the BOV in late March and selected Cuccinelli as an interim appointment. Last week, a group of 17 UVA organizations penned a letter to the General Assembly asking them to block the full nomination.
Ellis had been appointed in June 2022 for a four-year term and, if confirmed, Cuccinelli would serve the remaining months. In March, Ellis was the lone vote against moving forward with any new construction in the major capital plan.
Among UVA’s many construction projects is a $38 million conversion of its main heat plant, which will end the use of coal. Photo: Eze Amos.
