Renovation work totaling more than $2 million is getting under way at the Spokane Falls Community College stadium and sports field.

AM Landshaper Inc., a Spokane-based landscape contractor, started this month on a portion of the project under a $890,000 contract to replace the old grass football field there with artificial turf, designed mostly to accommodate soccer matches.

Located at the northwest corner of the campus, the sports field is expected to be finished by fall, says Dennis Dunham, Community Colleges of Spokane's facilities director. The athletic field improvements were designed by Cortner Architectural Co., of Spokane, in collaboration with the landscape architectural division of Bernardo Wills Architects PC, also of Spokane.

Jim Cortner, a project manager, says the field renovation also will include installing new field lighting as well as upgrading the sound system for the stadium.

Meanwhile, the stadium structure and 2,000-person capacity seating overlooking the field will be renovated this summer at a cost estimated between $1.2 million and $1.4 million. A contractor bidding process was scheduled to wrap up by June 27 for the stadium portion of the work.

Cortner Architectural also designed the stadium renovations.

Dunham says the stadium upgrade includes making structural repairs to the concrete steps as well renovating some of the stadium building's interior.

Cortner says the interior renovations will involve about 9,000 square feet of the building, which has just over 11,000 square feet of floor space. He says the 40-year-old stadium structure is located under the upright stadium grandstand.

The project will include forming four locker rooms by dividing existing locker room space and erecting partition walls.

"They should be able to accommodate multiple teams," Cortner says about the new locker rooms. "As one's getting off the field, another gets ready."

The project also will include constructing a small classroom that also can be used for training and a space for the school's golf program. An existing dance studio will remain, Cortner says, and a weight and exercise room will be relocated elsewhere in the building.

Additionally, the project will include some cleanup work and painting on the building exterior, and replacing some joint sealants in the stadium's grandstand area to keep water from seeping into the building, he adds.

Elsewhere on the SFCC campus, T.W. Clark broke ground in May on a 47,500-square-foot, two-story classroom building. The new structure will be located on the south side of the campus, directly east of the administration building. NAC|Architecture, of Spokane, designed the classroom building, which is expected to be completed by fall 2013.