Two Spokane construction companies and a Portland, Ore., company thats involved in expanding the Spokane Convention Center are the three finalists for a contract to do the first two phases of planned upgrades at Washington State Universitys Martin Stadium, in Pullman.


Lydig Construction Inc. and Graham Construction & Management Inc., both of Spokane, and Hoffman Construction Co., of Portland, were expected to find out June 1 which of them has been selected by WSU as general contractor-construction manager for the first two phases of work at the football stadium, says Louise Sweeney, WSU project manager.


WSU currently estimates that the first two phases, which will include renovation work rather than expansion, will cost about $17 million, Sweeney says. She says, however, We will pick one of the three (contractors) before the actual construction costs are determined. Then that company can be involved with the design process, and well negotiate costs.


Two additional phases of work envisioned at the facility would include increasing the seating capacity at the 39,000-seat stadium, which is the smallest football stadium of any school in the Pacific 10 Conference, but no money has been secured for that work yet.


Hoffman teamed with Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, as general contractor-construction manager on the Spokane Convention Center expansion, and already has been chosen to do the planned $52 million renovation of WSUs Compton Union Building in Pullman.


The first two phases of work at Martin Stadium call for enlarging the concourse space behind the grandstands on the south, east, and north sides of the stadium. Those phases also will include constructing additional restrooms and concession spaces, and modifying the entrance gates around the stadium, which was built in 1972.


We have big deficiencies in the points of concession sales and in plumbing fixtures, Sweeney says. We have lots of long lines during halftimes.


She says one goal of the project is to eliminate an unsightly row of portable toilets that must be lined up along Stadium Way during football games.


Architects for the project are Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad PLLC, of Spokane, and HOK Sports Facilities Group LLC, of Kansas City, Mo.


Sweeney says design development and construction documents should be completed by November, with construction to begin immediately after the Apple Cup game between WSU and the University of Washington in mid-November. She says the first two phases of work should be completed by late August, before the first home football game of 2007.


Funding for those phases of work will come from revenue bonds and a student referendum passed in March in which students agreed to pay a fee of $25 per semester for the next 25 years.


Because funding for the planned final two phases of the project hasnt been secured, a timeline for that work hasnt been determined, Sweeney says.


The third phase currently is expected to cost about $35 million, and would add about 2,200 higher-cost seats in an upper level that would be built above the north grandstands, where WSU students generally sit. That independent steel structure would include indoor club seating for 145 people, plus lounge space; 1,490 outdoor club seats, plus a club lounge; 36 partially-covered loge boxes that would each seat from four to six people; 18 indoor suites for 16 to 20 people; an indoor athletic directors suite with 24 seats; and an indoor presidential suite with 60 seats, Sweeney says.


That work can be done without disrupting the current seating, so the project could overlap football seasons, she says.


The fourth phase would include adding 5,000 grandstand seats at the east end zone, which currently has limited seating, Sweeney says. That work would cost an estimated $8 million, she says.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.