Gonzaga plans garage, new student center

Gonzaga University is launching into a multiyear series of building projects to expand student services, classroom space, offices and parking.

Last week, university officials met with residents of the Gonzaga area to unveil a proposed new parking garage on the west side of Hamilton Street between Boone and Desmet avenues.

The parking garage is a first step on a program to build a new and much larger student and food services center, replacing the existing COG building, which is east of the Crosby Student Center.

The parking facility would be designed as temporary home for food services and later could be converted to street-level retail uses, said Dale Goodwin, director of public relations at GU.

Work on the multistory parking garage could begin this winter with completion in fall 2008.

The project is estimated at $10 million.

It initially would have 600 parking spaces and could be expanded with an additional 300 spaces.

The project will require a conditional-use permit through the city hearing examiner, a process that involves a public hearing.

“That has to happen before we can start on the COG project,” Goodwin said.

In the meantime, the university is planning the new student center to be four times larger than the existing center.

The new center could have as much as 140,000 square feet of space and would become the new home for student services, recreational activities and student government.

The facility also would have a ballroom and auditorium.

The new COG would allow existing student services to move from the Administration Building, freeing up new space for classrooms in the Ad Building, Goodwin said.

Construction plans call for starting the new COG project in 2009 with completion in late 2010 or early 2011.

Across the campus, the university is also moving ahead with renovation of the historic Fuller Building at 111 E. Desmet Ave. where new classrooms, conference rooms and offices are planned on the first two floors.

The Fuller Academic Center later would be renovated on the third and fourth floors as additional space needs arise, Goodwin said.