Recently, some areas of the Bellevue College campus have been under construction. There are two main development projects on campus right now. One is the construction of the dorms by the North entrance and the other is the tearing up of the track field. There are other, small projects that have also been in progress, including a renovation of the G building and physics classrooms.
The dorms have been in construction since fall quarter of 2016 and are scheduled to be completed fall quarter of 2018. According to construction Project Manager William Tribble, this project is on schedule. “We’ve just started pouring the foundations which are complete,” he said. “We’re out of the ground.” Students will also be able to start living in the dorms in fall of 2018 once the project is complete. Campus Operations Director Vidya Ramachandran stated that the buildings will have more than 350 beds in 147 units as well as “several common facilities for general campus students and resident students.”
Alyssa Brown / The Watchdog
Another project is on the Bellevue College track field, which is being demolished to make way for a new soccer and softball field. This will be a larger field than the last one. “In order to do that we had to enlarge the field by placing retaining walls to the north and the south of the field, raising the level slightly, leveling it out,” said Tribble. The field will also use artificial turf for “year round use and LED lights,” according to Ramachandran.
As well as adding a new field, an area of the old track field is also being converted to a storm water retention system. This system will be able to collect storm water from the field and convey it from the dorms. “When you create a new area of hardscape you need to direct that water into water quality treatment and also detention so it doesn’t flood the municipal sewer systems,” said Tribble. “We’re creating a big tank down there to hold the water runoff from the athletic field.”
As well as these two construction projects, there are renovation developments to many of the classrooms and buildings on campus, including a renovation of the physics classrooms and one of the G building. Ramachandran stated that the physics classroom construction is set to finish this summer. “The construction will provide students access to new undergrad research labs,” she said. The G building renovation involves “reclaiming under-utilized spaces in the building,” according to Ramachandran. This will include adding All-Gender locker rooms and showers.
Lastly, there are some projects that are set to start during summer quarter. There is a new project that was just approved, a Student Success Center, the design of which is starting this summer. “This success center will house several services offered to students in one location,” said Ramachandran. Tribble added to this by stating that Campus Operations will also be repaving some parking lots and restriping the campus over the summer. “Just odds and ends,” he said.