Completion dates for four of the university's ongoing construction projects are in sight, an Office of Physical Plant (OPP) official said.

OPP Associate Vice President H. Ford Stryker presented members of the Board of Trustees with pictures of the projects last Friday, details about their cost and projected dates of completion, focusing on the Forest Resources Building, the Food Sciences Building, University Creamery and Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Medlar Field is the new baseball stadium that will be home to the State College Spikes this season and the Penn State varsity baseball team beginning in 2007. Stryker told the trustees the field would be ready for the Spikes' first home game in June.

"Much work has been done on the ballpark structure," Stryker said. "The outer shell of the building will be completed in January."

Stryker reported construction of the baseball stadium is costing the university $26,000 an hour. OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said the amount demonstrates how much work has to be done.

"These numbers refer to the total cost involved, which would be all materials and labor," said Ruskin, adding that the calculation was based on a projected $16.6 million cost, with 79 days of work left at the time of the report.

Stryker told the trustees that the Forest Resources Building, which will be completed by the end of the month, would be ready for move-in by May. The building will have offices that overlook Park Avenue, meeting rooms on the corners of the second, third and fourth floors with views of the arboretum, as well as labs on the upper floors.

The presentation also included "then" and "now" photos of the department of food sciences construction located at Curtin and Bigler roads. Construction workers have recently installed vats and other equipment in the production area.

"The new Creamery sales space is beginning to take place inside the building," said Stryker.

Stryker said completion of the building is scheduled for May, with the Creamery scheduled to open for business in August. The May completion date is important because the facility will have to undergo a food safety certification process before it can start producing anything, Stryker said.

Bob Lumley-Sapanski, facilities and safety coordinator for the department of food sciences, said the new building would have a pathogen lab and other new facilities to study food processing that would not have been possible at the old location.

"The main reason we're getting a new building is because we're undersized here," Lumley-Sapanski said.

Lumley-Sapanski said representatives from the food science department have been meeting every week with building contractors and architects to make sure that all the equipment is in the right location when they move into the building.

"We want to make it as smooth a transition as possible," Lumley-Sapanski said.

Stryker said funding for the projects comes from the state, the university and the university's fundraising programs.

A state capital fund is supplying most of the money for the Forest Resources and Food Sciences buildings, Stryker said.

Tom Starke, executive director of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the capital budget provides the funding and authorization for various construction projects across the state. Penn State, when requesting funding for construction, submits their proposals to the Senate for approval. If the Senate authorizes the projects, they forward the proposals to the governor.

"What we do is authorize the project," Starke said. "Then it's up to Penn State to negotiate with the governor for the release of that project."

Starke said the governor couldn't release funding for a capital budget project without it already having been approved by the general assembly.