The Air Force Academy has an estimated $4.2 billion in deferred projects.

Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind detailed the academy’s needs during a Board of Visitors meeting on Thursday and a possible plan to refresh the campus. The board includes senators and representatives who can advocate for funding through congressional boards, such as the House Armed Services Committee.

Most of the buildings were constructed between 1955 and 1966, and they have been chronically underfunded over the years.

“We are now facing frequent facility failures,” he said.

For example, he said, one of the dormitories, Sijan Hall, had 50 emergency repairs in the last year. Remodeling the dorms is tricky because cadets need housing. One solution could be a swing-space dormitory that would provide housing for a few hundred cadets, but such a project would require additional research.

The superintendent proposed spending $350 million on the academy in perpetuity to remodel existing buildings and construct needed facilities.

An update to the aerospace lab is “shovel-ready” and would cost about $25 million, he said. After that, a new space-focused building is needed, and it could provide top-secret labs and classrooms for space-domain research.

The highest-profile construction project at the academy, the chapel, is currently expected to be completed in fall 2028, said Col. Ahave Brown, the installation commander.

The latest major hurdle in the project was water testing, and the results have been “very positive,” Bauernfeind said.

The chapel remodel has faced substantial delays because of asbestos mitigation and alignment issues with the steel structure, said Brig. Gen. Pat Miller, commander for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, during a board meeting in December. He said the two issues together accounted for 4 1/2 years of delay.

The renovation to address chronic leaking was estimated to cost $158 million. It is now projected to cost $335 million, according to a contract update in August.

To help speed completion, Miller said the project management team is now larger and includes a Air Force colonel.

The Academy has also started cadet tours of the chapel for seniors so they can see it before they leave, Bauernfeind said.

The tours are not mandatory, but highly encouraged, an academy spokesperson said.

The focus of the tours is “strictly educational, centered on the historical and architectural significance of this National Historic Landmark,” the emailed statement said.