Gonzaga envisions complex

Journal of Business, May 06, 2004 by Parish, Linn

Gonzaga University plans to construct a five-story, $ 10. 5 million apartment and retail complex on an entire block west of its campus that currently is occupied by the Colonial Bowl bowling alley.

The development still is being designed, but Gonzaga spokesman Dale Goodwin says it is expected to be either one five-story, L-shaped building or two five-story structures. Either way, the project is to include 75 three-bedroom living units, as well as some retail space at the ground level, he says. The new living units would be earmarked as housing for upperclassmen and graduate students.

The project is slated for the block bordered by Sharp Avenue to the north, Ruby Street to the west, Boone Avenue to the south, and Pearl Street to the east. The Colonial Bowl, which currently is operated for Gonzaga by a private company, will be razed to make way for the development, as will a couple of other buildings the school owns on that block.

Goodwin says construction of the new buildings is expected to start next spring, and the units likely will be available to students by the beginning of the school year in fall 2006.

ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, and Runberg Architecture Group PLLC, of Seattle, are designing the apartment facility.

Gonzaga is asking the Washington state Higher Education Facilities Authority to issue $21 million in general-revenue bonds to finance the project, along with a smaller student-housing complex that Gonzaga had announced earlier this spring, as well as other equipment and improvements. The authority has scheduled a public hearing in Olympia on May 13 on the request.

About half of the $21 million would go to the apartment facility, and about $5 million would go to the smaller dormitory project, Goodwin says. The remaining about $5 million would go toward various expenses and possibly other projects.

The smaller project involves demolition of a 14-unit apartment building Gonzaga. owns at the east end of campus, at 801 E. Boone, and construction of a 94-bed residence hall on that site. Goodwin says the Jesuit school plans to select a general contractor for that project later this month and start work on it in June. The structure is scheduled to be completed by fall 2005.

Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, is designing that structure.