Brandeis was recently issued a bond of $47.5 million from MassDevelopment, Massachusetts' development finance agency, and will use most of the proceeds to continue to fund phase one of the new science complex project, which focuses primarily on the construction of the Shapiro Science Center, according to Vice President for Financial Affairs and Treasurer Maureen Murphy.Murphy said, "The main proceeds of this bond [Series N] are for the [Shapiro Science Center], but a small part of it will go toward [the Ridgewood Residence Halls]."

She explained, "The bond proceeds are not tagged to specific expenditure. We generally apply the bonds to [major] projects first," as opposed to smaller projects or renovations. Murphy said Brandeis closed the deal on this bond on Aug. 6, 2008.

In an e-mail to the Justice, MassDevelopment Director of Communication Adam Bickelman wrote, "The federal tax code allows states to issue tax-exempt bonds on behalf of eligible borrowers to provide low-cost financing for projects that create economic activity in their communities." He explained that eligible borrowers include nonprofit institutions like Brandeis.

Bickelman wrote that this $47.5 million bond is "by no means" a large amount of money for Brandeis. He wrote that MassDevelopment has served as a bond issuer to Brandeis University on several occasions in the past ten years.

According to Vice President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman, phase one of the science complex project, which is primarily focused on the Shapiro Science Center, is "expected to be completed around the beginning of February."

Feldman also said that there are other renovations taking place in phase one of the project. "For example, an area in Gerstenzang that had formally been used as stacks at the rear end of the library has been converted into a space that includes a teaching lab for physics and some additional facility space that's going to serve the complex as a whole."

The conclusion of phase one of the project will be the removal of the Friedland and Kalman buildings, according to Feldman, which is scheduled to take place in the summer and fall of 2009.

According to Feldman, the plan for phase two "involves a new building that will be more or less on the footprint of Kalman, primarily a chemistry building.