Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Building brings changes across the district

Photos and story by James Hill

Construction is booming across the entire district. In most recent news, the college has acquired a former market site in north Portland with remodeling work set to begin in late January 2004. The activity adds steam to the transformation that is occurring at the Cascade Campus. Former market to house Public Services Education BuildingA new phase of construction is underway at Cascade Campus. The college is in the process of purchasing the former Renaissance Market site on North Killingsworth Street and Mississippi Avenue with plans for an extensive remodel of the building. The two-block site will house the future Public Services Education Building. Plans call for expanding the facility from its current size of 24,000 to 29,000 square feet.The project is part of $57 million earmarked for urban Cascade Campus bond projects, part of a voter-approved $144 million bond measure for PCC in November of 2000. The campus eventually will gain four new buildings and a new science building wing (completed in September 2003) and will be more than one-third larger than its current size, adding 3.57 acres of land and 120,000 square feet of space. The remodel will bring three related programs together on the Cascade Campus. Emergency medical services and paramedic programs will move from the Southeast Center and fire science will move from Gresham to join criminal justice at Cascade. The center will provide eight new classrooms and 10 faculty offices as well as specialized classrooms, equipment areas and training facilities. Continuation of the campus walkway across Mississippi Avenue will integrate the building within the campus plan. This year, the college will also undertake construction of the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, which will house arts, music, and multimedia programs. Six art classrooms, three multimedia classrooms and a state-of-the-art recording studio are planned. It will also hold the campus bookstore and a 300-seat auditorium for lectures, distance learning, movies and performance events. The building completes a main campus gateway at the intersection of Killingsworth Street and Albina Avenue with a high glass atrium and a public plaza area at the corner. The college will break ground on this project in the spring of 2004. Meanwhile, progress continues on the new physical education facility, across the street from the campus proper on the corner of North Killingsworth Street and Kirby Avenue.The architect for these projects is Yost Grube Hall and the construction manager/general contractor is Walsh Construction.Other construction updatesA new 94,000-square-foot Southeast Center is near the end of construction at 82nd Avenue and Division Street.At Sylvania, a new 47,000-square-foot Technology Education Building is being built while at the Rock Creek Campus a new 67,000-square-foot library/student services building is under way. Also at Rock Creek, a 22,000-square-foot addition to Building 7 is creating three more science labs biology, chemistry and general science as well as four new classrooms. New labs for Health Technology Building at Sylvania Campus. In October of 2003, the Health Technology Building re-opened to new dental and nursing labs, early childhood education program space, office staff areas. The project cost an estimated $1.5 million out of the construction bond. The new science wing for Jackson Hall at the Cascade Campus also opened its doors in October 2003. The $6.2 million project adds approximately 17,500 square feet of space with six new science laboratories, for a total of eight labs. It also adds four new classrooms, bringing the total to six."The opening of the new facilities in Jackson Hall is the first step of a significant commitment to the north and northeast Portland community to give residents greater educational opportunities," said Jerry Berger, interim district president.