Community Colleges of Spokanes board of trustees has given approval for design work for both an expansion of the Spokane Community College student center and an addition to the fitness center at Spokane Falls Community College. If both projects are built, they would cost a combined $4.8 million.


The college district board last week approved $300,000 in design work on a planned expansion and remodeling of the bookstore, cafeteria, and food preparation areas in SCCs student center, called the Lair. That project, currently estimated to cost about $3.5 million, would be the first phase of a reconfiguration and expansion of that building that could cost up to $10 million.


Plans for the Lair expansion got under way in March, when the board approved a $30,000 pre-design study. Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, landed that work after a formal selection process, says Greg Plummer, district director of facilities. He says that rather than going through a selection process again, the state will add the $300,000 design phase to Integrus contract.


The board last week was asked to consider approving both design and construction funding, but elected to fund only the design work to avoid having to borrow funds for the project now, says Mary Ellen Myrene, college districts spokeswoman. The overall project would be funded with student fees and revenue from the bookstore, cafeteria, and parking, which the college calls business enterprise funds. Therefore, the district wont have to seek legislative appropriations to fund it, she says.


However, the project faces some uncertainties. College officials say the pre-design study found the work would cost more than first estimated, and enrollment is not growing as fast as anticipated, making them wary of taking out a loan now, Myrene says.


Also, possible impacts from the construction of the planned north-south freeway are a concern, she says. The campus is on Greene Street, and the proposed path for the freeway would run along Greene Street, but to the east of its eastern edge, on the SCC campus. The campus master plan now is under scrutiny to determine if the main entrance and general orientation of the campus could be shifted so theyre on Mission Avenue. The remodeling of the Lair might include moving the entry of that building at some point.


Separately, the board allocated $105,000 for design of a nearly $1.3 million project that would add 10,000 square feet of floor space to the student fitness center at SFCC for a weight-training room and a recreational gym.


That work had been planned as a second phase of the buildings original construction in 1991. A study was completed in October by Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, which serves as an on-call consultant for the colleges. As with the SCC Lair work, the new phase would be paid for with student fees and business enterprise funds.


Plummer says the district will seek bids for design work on the fitness center. Design work for that and the Lair should be done by the end of 1999.