GU mall expansion proposed

The pedestrian mall and parking lots alongside the administration building at Gonzaga University could be expanded westward under a proposal being advanced by the university.

Work is under way on portions of the $1 million project, which will include construction of a reflecting pool and installation of a 9-foot bronze statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

Sculptor George Carlson, of Hamilton, Mont., was commissioned for the bronze, which will be outlined by the administration building’s main entry archway.

Last month, the university applied for a building permit and street vacations for the expanded mall along two blocks of Boone Avenue from Pearl to Astor streets; Astor from Boone to Desmet avenues; Van Gorp Place; and Desmet from Pearl to Van Gorp Place.

A parking lot with 132 spaces would be built to replace on-street parking that would be lost in the project. Parking will continue to be free for guests, and students will be able to obtain low-cost parking permits to use the lot, GU officials said.

The westward expansion is being designed to match the mall on the north side of the Administration Building. That mall was opened in 1981 when the City Council approved GU’s request to vacate Boone Avenue along the university.

“It’s going to be made into a nice greenway,” said Dale Goodwin, director of public relations for the university.

In recent years, GU has been acquiring property on the west side of campus, in part to expand classrooms, housing and other facilities for a growing student population.

Fifty new first-year students are to be added to the student body in each of the next five years. This year’s incoming class will total 1,030 freshmen.

Ken Sammons, director of plant services at the university, said work could be finished this year if Gonzaga obtains the needed approvals at City Hall.

Funding for the mall came from private donations, including money from relatives of the same family that helped finance the mall construction in 1981, Goodwin said. The identity of the donor was not made public.

In a related project, the university is renovating the historic Fuller Building at 111 E. Desmet into classrooms and offices on the first and second floors. That project is to be completed next year, Goodwin said.

The 1915 building is part of the DeSmet Warehouse National Historic District and originally housed the W.P. Fuller & Co. paint supply store.

Nearby, the Kennedy Apartments will open this year with housing for 220 students, to be followed by completion of a second phase for an additional 195 students next year.

Other programs that operate on the west side of the GU campus include the international students program, music department and broadcast and journalism studies.