Groton - The University of Connecticut's board of trustees unanimously approved spending $10 million of the university's NextGenCT funding to demolish two vacant buildings that divide the Avery Point campus in two.

The board met at the Storrs campus Wednesday. Avery Point Campus Director Michael Alfultis has said removing the buildings will be "transformative" because it will create an open space in the center of the campus and unite the marine science building with the social science and humanities building.

Built in the 1930s, the former Coast Guard Research & Development Building Barracks and Mess Hall total 460,000 square feet. The last of the Coast Guard units that were based on the campus moved to New London in 2009.

Demolition will begin this summer when the money from "Next Generation Connecticut," an initiative to significantly expand UConn's science, technology, engineering and math programs, starts to become available. The underground utilities will be redone and the work will be completed next summer.