PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College’s newest building is rising from grounds where tennis once held court.
The Allied Health and Early Childhood Development Center is on schedule to open for classes for the winter 2017 quarter, said Patty McCray-Roberts, director of facilities planning and operations.
“It’s going fast, and it’s going smoothly,” McCray-Roberts said.
The $25.6 million building will house the college’s medical arts classrooms, child development classrooms and an on-site preschool.
The two-story, 41,650-square-foot structure — which is between Keegan Hall, also known as M Building, and the longhouse, behind the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. — will house the programs now in Buildings L and LE.
Underground work is complete, many of the steel beams are in place and the shape of the building is beginning to be recognizable, McCray-Roberts said.
Second-floor supports are being installed in the building that is designed to architecturally match both the adjoining Keegan Hall, built in 2007, and nearby Maier Hall, which was completed in 2011.
The Allied building was designed by Schacht Aslani Architects.
The firm also designed the college’s Maier Hall and Library Media Center buildings, and the exterior restoration and interior renovation of the college’s Port Townsend campus’ Building 202 at Fort Worden State Park.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Allied building were held Aug. 18.
“It is going to really contribute to our quality programs,” McCray-Roberts said.
Building L was built in 1980 and houses nursing, journalism and distance learning programs.
LE Building, constructed in 1992, currently houses the medical assistant program.
Once the new building is complete and the programs moved, L and LE buildings will be torn down, and the wetlands they were built on will be restored, McCray-Roberts said.
The new building includes clinical settings for nursing students to get a real feel for what they are learning, she said.
A child care center is currently located in the Wally Sigmar Athletic Complex and will be moved to the new building.
More than 75 percent of the aging campus, built in 1964, has been replaced in the past 15 years.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
