CHENEY – Still in its beginning stages, Eastern Washington University’s (EWU) science building has been undergoing renovations for two months and is seeking an additional $45 million to complete updates.
Shawn King, the associate vice president of facilities and planning at EWU, expects Phase I of the project to be complete in the fall or winter of 2023.
“The project is a total renovation of the whole building and building systems,” he said. “That includes the heating and air conditioning, electrical, all rooms getting remodeled and upgrading labs and office spaces.”
The outside of the building will remain the same, except for window replacements.
“The whole building is 148,000 sq. ft.,” King said. “Phase I is 78,000 and that makes Phase II about the same.”
While Phase I is underway, the other half of the building will be open for student access.
King expects Phase II to cost another $45 million.
The university will request that funding during the summer. King is hopeful that the request will gain approval from the Legislature in the spring of 2023.
David Bowman, dean of the College of Stem at EWU, said the state understands the large amounts of funding requested for the project.
“The whole project costs roughly $100 million and takes over four years of work,” he said. “The state gives us money in two year increments.”
The amount of funding agreed upon in the original plan five years ago was $45 million. But Bowman said EWU has been working with the state to assess what that means in today’s dollars.
Bowman said the renovations would allow a lot of expansion for research conducted in all academic disciplines. The upgrades will also enable the building to accommodate more modern instruments that the current structure cannot handle.
Many departments at EWU partner with regional offices to do work directly related to the region.
“This is really going to transform our ability to have a high impact research for students and faculty at Eastern,” Bowman said. “It gives students an opportunity to do research that has great meaning and relevance to their education and the region.”
Bowman gave the example of Eastern’s biology department, which focuses on wildlife restoration in the local regions.
“The new building will make more research possible and they can really conduct cutting edge research for the region,” Bowman said. “They can really expand their space.”
Another benefit of the renovations is energy efficiency. King said creating a more energy-efficient space will save money for the university and benefit the environment.
“One thing is that this building as it is now is about 45-years-old and it’s not very energy efficient,” King said. “One of the things in the remodel is improving the energy efficiency of the entire building. This is just going to be a better building for student instruction and research.”
Michaela is a former newsroom intern at the Cheney Free Press. She covered stories on education, city government, cops/courts/fire departments and local businesses.
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