LSU Hilltop Arboretum breaks ground on expansion

A new 22,000-square-foot facility will more than double the existing space at the LSU Hilltop Arboretum on Highland Road when the project is completed this summer. Officials held a groundbreaking Tuesday for the $1.28 million expansion project. The Imogene Newsom Brown Education Facility—named in honor of the late initial donor to the project—will feature the Beverly Brown Coates Auditorium, conference room, warming kitchen and courtyard. The facility will be the first LSU building to be constructed with enough energy-efficient components to be registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for possible Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification. In addition to serving as the setting of educational programming, the new facility will be the site of fundraising events. It’s the final piece of a 1999 building plan that includes the existing administrative building, library and open-air pavilion. LSU Hilltop Arboretum Director Peggy Davis Coates says the Friends of the LSU Hilltop Arboretum group raised all funds for the expansion project, through more than 300 private donations. The project is expected to be complete in August, she adds.