The UNCG-N.C. A&T joint nanotechnology center makes the state’s tentative budget:
The budget deal also provides for the construction of a proposed school of nanotechnology that would be jointly run by UNCG and N.C. A&T. The facility would be on the Millennium Campus near Lee Street and Interstate 40/Business 85.
Budget writers agreed to pay $5 million in cash toward the project and borrow $53 million to finish it.
That borrowing is part of a $554.1 million package of COPs, or certificates of participation. COPs are a way for the state to borrow money without asking the voters.
“We went back and really cut the capital proposal,” said Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat and one of the Senate’s budget negotiators. She said it was “wonderful” that the nanotechnology school survived the intense negotiations.
Too bad. That’s a fine piece of open space out there at Interstate 40/85 and Lee Street. I’ve always enjoyed gazing upon it after pulling off the highway. Oh well, I guess that’s just development. Sigh.
