WEST LAFAYETTE — A new $60 million Agricultural and Life Sciences Facility that was designated as the university’s top priority in a 10-year capital plan submitted to the state was given the green light to move forward by Purdue’s Board of Trustees.

The board also took actions to advance an equine center in Shelbyville, Indiana; make significant runway improvements at the Purdue Airport; approve the final term of a procurement tool to advance campus projects in a timely manner; and sign a development agreement for the State Street corridor project.

Trustees authorized planning, financing, construction and awarding of a construction contract for the approximately 123,000 gross-square-foot Agricultural and Life Sciences Facility complex, to be built at the intersection of S. Russell and Harrison streets. The building will consolidate Department of Animal Sciences students, faculty and staff into a unified complex to better coordinate teaching, research and engagement activities, as well as provide needed upgrades to teaching, research and meat lab facilities.