OLYMPIA — Washington State University’s plan to construct a new building in Everett faces delay because of the continuing political impasse in Olympia.
Designs are drawn and a contractor hired but WSU’s ability to break ground July 1 as hoped hinges on knowing how much state money, if any, will be provided.
University officials are waiting for the answers from state lawmakers who are embroiled in a protracted battle on new budgets for government operations and constructions projects like the one proposed by WSU.
Lawmakers won’t break their impasse in a special session that will end Thursday. That means WSU likely won’t know until sometime in June, during a second special session, when work will get under way on the future home of WSU North Puget Sound at Everett.
“It’s really put the project in a lot of limbo since our team doesn’t know what our funding level is,” said project manager Stacy Shewell of OAC Services Inc. of Seattle, a construction management firm. “We want to provide a quality project that is on schedule and it’s hard when you don’t know what’s going on.”
Paul Pitre, dean of WSU North Puget Sound, said the timeline hasn’t changed yet. But it could get pushed back a few weeks if lawmakers don’t act until late June, he said.
Two weeks might not sound like much, Shewell said, but if that coincides with a bout of bad weather then “all bets are off” on a start date.
When the university gets the green light, fences will go up and workers will start tearing up the asphalt in a corner of the College Plaza shopping center parking lot on North Broadway.
This is where Washington State wants to erect a four-story, 95,000-square-foot building to serve as the base of operations for the University Center consortium WSU now manages on the EvCC campus.
Several public colleges, including WSU, the University of Washington and Western Washington University, offer upper division courses through this academic collaboration.
As proposed, the center would open with 12 classrooms and 10 laboratories. It will have space for a small café and an area set aside for public gatherings.
The current timeline calls for completing construction in spring 2017 and opening for classes that fall.
WSU requested $61 million for the project in the 2015-17 capital budget but it isn’t likely to receive that much.
The House set aside $54.6 million in its capital budget while the Senate-backed spending plan allots $50.3 million. Gov. Jay Inslee also proposed $54.6 million.
Shewell said if the Senate’s level of funding is adopted, it will require some redesigning to scale down the project. That will further delay the start of construction.
“We’re still expecting to stay on our same timeline but it all depends on the level of funding,” she said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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