Columbia Hall heralds success of CCC campus project
Published 4:00 pm Sunday, January 31, 2010
Students and teachers at Clatsop Community College in Astoria are beginning the 2010
| Clatsop Community College’s new Columbia Hall opened Jan. 11 for the winter term.
Photo: Joanne Rideout |
decade in grand style – the new Columbia Hall building opened on campus Jan. 11 with the start of the winter academic term.
The recently completed building is part of the Jerome Campus Redevelopment Project (JCRP), which includes makeovers of nearby Towler and Patriot halls as well.
JCRP Project Manager Al Jaques said work has progressed in two phases, the first being the construction of Columbia Hall.
“We started in December of 2008,” he said.
| Students can grab a bite to eat on campus at the Clatsop Café in Columbia Hall.
Photo: Joanne Rideout |
Columbia Hall is located on the south side of Lexington Avenue, on the site where the old Fertig Hall once stood.
Jaques said the new building opened for staff on Jan. 4. Staff and students are now fully moved into the new space.
In addition to modern classroom facilities and equipment, Columbia Hall offers other new amenities, including a student café and dining room with a view of the Columbia River. The campus bookstore is also now located in Columbia Hall.
Jaques said the project is well into Phase 2.
“The next phase involves everything north of Lexington Avenue,” he said. “We are demolishing the connecting building between Towler and Patriot halls, and doing all the demolition inside Towler Hall, along with seismic upgrades.”
He said that while crews are working to restore the classic look of Towler Hall, and will rejuvenate hardwood floors and other original features of the building, the Towler project is more renovation than restoration.
One demolition effort inside Towler involved tearing out aging drop-ceiling inserts that obscured original ceilings and tall windows. The result will be a traditional look and more natural light inside.
“We’re bringing the ceilings back up to where they were originally,” Jaques said. “We have also replaced all the windows and put a new roof on the building.”
| The Clatsop Community College student bookstore is now located in Columbia Hall. Photo: Joanne Rideout |
Other Towler upgrades include new heating and electrical systems. In adjacent Patriot Hall, renovation work is ongoing.
“We did some work this summer, putting in a new sprinkler system, and a new roof [paid for with federal stimulus dollars].”
The campus also now has new water and sanitary lines.
Jaques said that while construction is proceeding smoothly, parking options on campus are restricted for now.
Eight modular classrooms currently occupy the new parking lot behind Columbia Hall, and there are other modular units elsewhere on campus. The temporary structures allow classes to continue that would previously have been held in areas now undergoing construction.
Construction equipment and staging areas also take up space. Workers are parking off campus, Jaques said, and either walking to the job site or taking a shuttle bus to avoid using parking spots needed by students.
“We lost about 50 parking spaces,” he said. “They’ll be restored when the project is done.”
| Clatsop Community College students can enjoy lunch with a view in the new student dining room in Columbia Hall. Photo: Joanne Rideout |
10.3including Big River Construction, Clatsop Electric, and JP Plumbing. Even some Portland firms brought in to do work on Columbia Hall hired local workers.
“At one time we had close to 100 people on the job,” Jaques said.
Outgoing CCC President Greg Hamann leaves the school at the end of January to become president of Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Ore. But the improvements to the Clatsop campus are something he has worked toward for years.
“You notice students interacting with the new space, which includes places for students to gather and sit together, in addition to state-of-the-art teaching space,” he said. “What I’ve heard from students is that it feels like a real college now. I feel gratitude to be a part of that.”
Hamann said the completion of Columbia Hall is just “step one” of the Jerome Campus Redevelopment Project.
| Across the street from new Columbia Hall on the Clatsop Community College campus are Towler and Patriot halls, undergoing partial demolition and extensive renovation as part of the Jerome Campus Redevelopment Project. Photo: Joanne Rideout |
“What will be equally dramatic will be the new life given to Towler Hall, which will be completely dedicated to instruction and state of the art classrooms in a historically preserved buildings,” he said.
Clatsop Community College will hold a grand opening ceremony at Columbia Hall on April 10.
