Eastern Washington University has two major projects worth a total of $78.5 million in the works this year on its main campus in Cheney, 17 miles southwest of Spokane.

Shawn King, associate vice president of facilities and planning at EWU, says construction of the $31 million PUB renovation, which started in October of 2016, will be completed by September.

“We’re planning to begin moving in over the summer and expect the building to be up to full operations by mid-September,” he says.

Located at 516 Ninth, in the north-central section of the campus, the PUB was built in 1968 and last expanded in 1994.

King says Spokane-based Leone and Keeble Inc. is the contractor for the project, and Chicago-based design company Perkins+Will handled the project’s architectural and engineering services through its Seattle office. MW Consulting Engineers PS, of Spokane, is a major subcontractor on the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing portions of the design.

The project includes a major renovation of the 120,000-square-foot student union building and reconstruction of the building’s previous center atrium spaces at its northwest and southeast entrances into one larger 4,000-square-foot atrium spanning the length of the building.

For the second project on the campus, EWU plans to start construction on a new, 100,000-square-foot Interdisciplinary Science Center, says King. 

The building is to be located to the northeast of and adjoining the existing Science Building on Washington Street, just south of the PUB. 

King says the new building will connect to the existing Science Building via two enclosed bridges on its eastern side; one double-decker bridge to the southeast and one single bridge to the northeast.

The project is expected to include one auditorium-style classroom, as well as lab technician offices and support space. 

King says LMN Architects, of Seattle, handled design work on the project, which was scheduled to go out for bids before the end of March.

The project has an estimated construction value of $47.5 million, he says.

“We’re hoping to have a contractor begin mobilizing at the site later this summer, in order to get as much ground work done as we can before winter,” he says.

In addition to the projects on its Cheney campus, King says the university has also begun working on plans to move by spring 2020 three of its academic departments to Avista Development’s proposed Catalyst Building.

The $50 million building is planned at the south landing of a new pedestrian bridge currently under construction at the south edge of the University District east of downtown Spokane.