Dive Brief:

More than 50 construction projects are underway on the campus of the University of Michigan this summer, including 30 that will cost at least $2 million apiece to complete.

The combined tab for the work is more than $1.6 billion, which newspaper group MLive noted is more than the gross domestic product of 18 different countries. One of the projects involves construction of a $261 million, 300,000-square-foot biology building, while others are simple roof repairs or renovations.

The biology building isn’t the university’s most-expensive project to date: In 2011 it opened a $754 million hospital on the campus.

Dive Insight:

The school’s construction binge won’t last much longer. The university’s campus in Ann Arbor has been in deep construction mode for more than a year in an effort to update the 200-year-old, 500-building campus, Hank Baier, the university's associate vice president for facilities and operations, told MLive.

But renovations to dorms and most major facilities have already been completed, according to Provost Martha Pollack, who said she is expecting a lull in construction once the existing projects are finished.

She added that most of the construction costs are paid for with state and donor funds, and not with tuition dollars.