MSU may purchase property located about a mile and a half away from campus near Grand River Avenue because of a growing need for research space.

The building could provide several colleges with additional space to conduct laboratory and classroom research for both faculty and students, said George Benson, executive director of the MSU Foundation.

The two-story building, owned by the Huntsman Corp., is located at 4917 Dawn Ave., near Paul Revere's Tavern, 2703 E. Grand River Ave.

Huntsman Corp. manufactures materials to support various companies including those in the automotive, construction, electronics and medical industries.

Although the building costs $1.8 million and has been on the market for about a year, Benson said it would be more expensive to build a new structure.

"It would be nice if it were closer, but at the same time, it would be very hard to replicate it with new construction," he said.

The MSU Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that provides grants and funds to support university activities and underwrites its intellectual property program, plans to purchase the building for use by the university.

Benson said it's hard to say for certain if the foundation will purchase the building.

"We're in the middle of a negotiation, and it may or may not work out," he said.

The building is being sold because of a consolidation of research facilities being done throughout the Huntsman Corp., company spokesman Don Olsen said.

If the foundation does buy the 22,000-square-foot building, several colleges could be conducting research there in the fall, Benson said. Ian Gray, vice president for research and graduate studies, said the colleges of engineering, human medicine and natural science are interested in the space.

"The university has judged that it needs space like this, and how it would be allocated or who would take occupancy — we would determine that later," Benson said.

The first floor of the building would be primarily laboratory space, Gray said, while the second floor would be tailored to meet the needs of specific programs.

He said if the building is purchased, it would be an extension of colleges.

"It's just a small piece of the university research complex," he said. "What goes on in the Huntsman building could be a microcosm of what goes on in (other colleges)."