Photo by Deb Gau Scott Olson, the new chancellor of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, speaks with SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya during a visit to Marshall on Tuesday. Olson toured parts of the university campus that were the focus of planned renovations.

MARSHALL — The new Minnesota State chancellor said Tuesday he’s “optimistic” that building projects at state colleges and universities will receive state funding dollars in the next Minnesota legislative session.

“I’m hopeful,” Chancellor Scott Olson said during a visit to Southwest Minnesota State University. The capital request the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities is bringing to the legislature in 2024 is an investment in education and preserving assets, he said. “Minnesota should be taking good care of its assets.”

Olson began serving as Minnesota State chancellor Aug. 1, after former chancellor Devinder Malhotra retired.

The Minnesota State System’s 2024 capital request includes $200 million in Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) funding, and $341.4 million to fund a total of 16 campus capital projects across Minnesota. A $14 million design and renovation project affecting SMSU’s Physical Education building is one of the projects on the list.

Olson said Minnesota State ranked the SMSU renovation project seventh out of the 16 capital projects in terms of priority.

“That’s a pretty high priority,” he said.

Olson visited SMSU on Tuesday as part of a tour of a few different southern Minnesota colleges and universities. Together with area officials including SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya, Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes, Rep. Chris Swedzinski and Sen. Gary Dahms, he got a closer look at the facilities that would be affected by getting HEAPR and capital bonding dollars.

SMSU director of facilities Tony Nubile said university facilities would benefit from both HEAPR and bonding money. The university’s top priority for HEAPR dollars would be renovating the locker rooms in the P.E. building. The locker rooms are original to the university’s construction in 1967, and are in need of new ventilation systems and plumbing, better accessibility, and other improvements.

Nubile said the university plans to take a phased approach to the locker room renovations. All together, the three phases of the project will require more than $10.8 million in funding over six years.

Another key project planned at SMSU is the first phase of design and renovations creating a Wellness and Human Performance Center in parts of the P.E. building and the nearby Bellows Academic building. SMSU is seeking about $14 million in state bonding dollars for this phase of the project.

Nubile said this phase of the project would create an improved entrance for the SMSU pool, and enclose some existing outdoor space at the link between the P.E. building and Bellows Academic. The new construction would include a welcome desk, and rooms for conferences and collaborative learning, as well as a fitness center and laboratory space for the exercise science program.

Future phases of the renovation project would also affect space on the west side of the Bellows Academic building, including a large lecture hall, Nubile said.

Jayasuriya said facilities improvements at SMSU would be crucial for attracting and retaining students.

“This is a game-changer for SMSU,” he said. The newest academic building on campus was built before 1970, he said.

“Our last bonding project was done in 2009,” Jayasuriya said. However, he said it looked like the Wellness and Human Performance Center project might have a chance at getting funded in 2024.