Active construction to take place on campus this summer

The summer months are prime for working on construction projects throughout the PSU campus. This summer will prove to be no exception, as numerous construction projects will be taking place and may affect your time at the university.

Most notably, Parking Structure Three will be closed from June 17 to Sept. 20, as a two-story addition and elevator installation are completed, which will result in 349 new parking spaces. According to Burt Ewart, special projects architect for the university, the project is on schedule and will ready for the beginning of the fall quarter.

In the meantime, several other changes in parking will be taking place, starting the week of June 24 to the 29. In Parking Structures One and Two, metered spaces will be hooded and designated for faculty/staff and student general parking with a valid permit. In the Portland Center for Advanced Technology (PCAT) garage, DAS Motorpool spaces will be hooded and designated for faculty/staff parking only with a valid permit.

The carpool lot will be open to faculty/staff and student general parking during all hours, while the University Center Building garage will continue to park both faculty/staff and student daily parkers. All faculty/staff will also receive a summer bus pass at a significantly reduced rate, in order to alleviate the strain on parking, and Tri-Met PassPort holders will continue to purchase their discount dailies at the kiosk in Parking Structure One.

Other construction happening on campus includes the demolition of the Birmingham apartments and the construction of the housing which will replace it, beginning in mid-July and should be completed in about a year, Ewart said. Construction of the Native American Center will also begin and end around that time, with the tennis courts being closed for the entirety of the project.

A temporary playground will be built at the Helen Gordon Center to partially account for the loss of half of the current playground space because of Center’s expansion, which will double its current size. The project will begin around September or October and will last about a year.

The Stott Center gymnasium will be closed for the summer while new bleachers and floor are put in, as well as new basketball hoops, which will be shifted 90 degrees from their current position. The Smith Center will also continue the remodeling that began with a facelift, and now will shift into detail work to increase the seismic capacity of the building.