BATON ROUGE -- A $6 million land purchase will expand Louisiana State University's South Campus past 200 acres.

Chancellor Sean O'Keefe said the 60-acre purchase provides an opportunity for a Nicholson Drive gateway without the need for traffic to travel down GSRI Avenue to the current South Campus entrance.

The LSU Property Foundation bought the land with the goal of eventually transferring it to LSU. It would be added to the 153-acre South Campus, created in 2005.

O'Keefe said that if the land hadn't been purchased, the school may have lost crucial access on Nicholson from the main campus and elsewhere.

While LSU is developing plans for the South Campus, there are no immediate plans for new construction, he said.

The campus currently houses the Louisiana Business and Technology Center; a homeland security training site; and a center to explore new applications for tiny plastic and metal structures in technology.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)