Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Groundbreaking Kicks-Off Cascade Construction

Photos and story by James Hill

NORTH PORTLAND – A new era is dawning at Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus.A groundbreaking ceremony to kick-off campus expansion will start at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3 at the construction site on North Killingsworth and Kerby streets, across the street from the Cascade Library (705 N. Killingsworth St.). PCC President Jesus "Jess"Carreon, college officials, board members and community friends will celebrate the start of construction of the Cascade Campus expansion to provide greater educational opportunities for the community. Cascade Campus Executive Dean Mildred Ollee will serve as emcee. The groundbreaking site will be home to the future physical education complex. The Cascade Campus has had a vital educational presence in North/Northeast Portland for 32 years. The ceremony marks a new chapter for Cascade, following years of planning for enhanced educational facilities for the residents in North and Northeast Portland.Walsh Construction Company is the construction manager/general contractor for the Cascade expansion project while Yost Grube Hall is the architecture firm. The bond program will provide $57 million for Cascade Campus projects. In total, there will be 120,000 square feet of additional buildings and 3.57 acres of land expansion to the Cascade Campus area. The campus will eventually increase to occupy 13.32 acres and consist of 330,000 square feet of building space.In the initial phase of construction, Cascade will add approximately 17,500-square-feet to the two-story Jackson Hall Science Building and six new science labs (for a total of seven labs) at a cost of $7 million; build a 34,000-square-foot, two-story physical education complex for $6 million; and renovate the Student Services and Student Center buildings. The second phase of construction is planned for late summer of 2003. It will include the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building and the Technology Education Building. The Public Service Education Building is also planned for later in the bond program.The expansion is the result of staggering enrollment growth at the campus. Already this year, Cascade reports a 13.5 percent increase in full-time equivalent (FTE) from one year ago, and 8.9 percent growth in total headcount. In the past five years, the Cascade Campus enrollment has grown by 55 percent.PCC will serve more than 105,000 part- and full-time students annually in a wide variety of programs this year. The college boasts three comprehensive campuses, four workforce training centers and approximately 200 community locations throughout its five-county district.