The single-story Leyendecker building carries an all-in cost of more than $1,000 per square foot, while its $2.4 million building-cost line alone works out to about $800 per square foot

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State University plans to spend nearly $3.2 million replacing a roughly 3,400-square-foot administrative office with a smaller, 3,000-square-foot single-story building at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center.

The Board of Regents approved the $3,175,233 project Aug. 18 as part of its consent agenda.

The price works out to about $1,058 for each square foot of the planned replacement building when the entire project budget is divided by its 3,000-square-foot footprint.

Even before demolition, site work and professional costs are counted, NMSU’s budget assigns $2.4 million to the project’s general building-cost line — about $800 per square foot.

Both figures are substantially higher than a national benchmark for office construction.

Gordian’s RSMeans Data puts the second-quarter 2026 national average for two- to four-story office construction at $253.63 per square foot. The benchmark, published by Building Design+Construction, is based on three-story office models with green-building considerations and is intended for conceptual planning and budgeting rather than detailed project estimates.

The Leyendecker project is not directly comparable to that model. It is a much smaller, single-story university building, and NMSU’s full project budget includes costs beyond construction of the new office.

Still, the gap is substantial. NMSU’s $800-per-square-foot general building-cost line is more than three times the national office benchmark before the project’s other expenses are added.

Replacing a 1969 building

The existing Leyendecker administrative office was built in 1969 and is approximately 3,400 square feet.

NMSU says the building no longer meets its operational, functional and maintenance needs and has reached the point where replacement is necessary.

Plans call for demolishing the existing structure and constructing a 3,000-square-foot, single-story office on the same site.

The new building will include new site utilities, a septic system, ADA-compliant parking and an accessible route into the building.

The project also includes asbestos and lead-based paint abatement before the existing building is demolished.

NMSU’s budget assigns $125,000 specifically to demolition and another $80,840 to utilities and infrastructure.

Architectural and engineering work is budgeted at $261,691, project administration at $47,629 and surveying and commissioning at $3,000.

Another $32,073 is allocated to Art in Public Places.

Together with the $2.4 million general building cost and other construction components, those expenses bring the project to $3,175,233.

State bond money will pay for the work

The project will be funded from a $15 million fiscal 2024 general obligation bond appropriation approved for improvements at NMSU agricultural science centers.

NMSU expects design work to wrap up this month.

Construction is scheduled to begin in October and continue through October 2027.

The project received approval from the Regents Financial Strategies, Performance and Budget Committee on Aug. 13 before advancing to the full Board of Regents five days later.

NMSU also expects the project to go before the New Mexico Higher Education Department in September and, if applicable, the State Board of Finance in October.

The university’s presentation to the Regents included a proposed design and floor plan for the replacement building.

The new structure will be slightly smaller than the office it replaces — about 400 square feet less — while carrying an overall project budget of nearly $3.2 million.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.