June 24, 2021

$60M CWU project to start next year

Rendering provided by Studio Meng Strazzara/Hastings+Chivetta [enlarge]

CWU plans to renovate and add 67,000 square feet to Nicholson Pavilion.

Central Washington University plans to start construction in spring 2022 on a renovation and expansion of Nicholson Pavilion on its Ellensburg campus.

The project is expected to be complete by July 2023, said Andreas Bohman, vice president of operations for the university.

The state Legislature recently appropriated $55.5 million for construction after previously giving CWU $5 million for design, he said.

Nicholson Pavilion was built in 1959 as the Health and Education building. Bohman said it now serves over 10,000 students and about 40,000 visitors a year, and is due for a renovation.

The university plans to add 67,000 square feet to the two-story, approximately 100,000-square-foot building. The project will add academic office space, classrooms and seating for the performance gym. Also, infrastructure and flooring will be replaced or upgraded.

Depending on the construction bids, another gym may be added next to the dance studio and the field house expanded to include an indoor track, Bohman said.

The project would connect Nicholson to Dorothy Purser Hall immediately to the west, and create a unified facade across both buildings.

Bohman said CWU is the main provider of public school health and fitness teachers in the state, and those students are taught in Nicholson Pavilion.

Athletics and these undergraduate programs will continue to use Nicholson Pavilion: physical education and school health, sport management, dance, military science, physical education, health education, recreation, physical education varsity men and women, and physical activity courses. Health and physical education as well as sport and athletic administration graduate programs will also located there. Bohman said the aim is to grow those academic programs and benefit the athletic programs on campus.

The project is slated to go out to bid in late summer of early fall.

Studio Meng Strazzara is the architect and prime consultant.

The team also includes Hastings+Chivetta, associate architect; PCS Structural Solutions, structural engineer; MW Engineering, mechanical and electrical engineer; LPD Engineering, civil engineer; Nakano Associates, landscape architect; Studio TJP, historical consultant; RC Cost Group, cost estimator; Henderson Engineers, acoustical engineer; PBS Engineering & Environmental, hazardous materials consultant; Norton Corrosion Limited, cathodic protection consultant; PLSA Engineering & Surveying, surveyor; GN Northern, geotechnical engineer; Transpo Group, transportation engineer; and KBA, commissioning agent.