Spokane contractor starts recreation center, student union building at CWU


Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, has started work on a $40.7 million recreation center and student union building at Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, Wash.


The building will be two stories tall and shaped like a backward L, with a total of about 228,000 square feet of floor space.


Vince Campanella, senior project manager at Lydig, says the building is being constructed near the center of the CWU campus, just northeast of the current student union building.


The project is expected to be done in two stages, he says. Work on the recreation center is to be wrapped up in January 2006, and the student-union portion of the project is set to be completed four months after that.


Workers for the project will be hired out of union halls in the Ellensburg area. Campanella doesnt know yet how many workers the company will need.


The recreation center will include a gymnasium on the main level that will be large enough to accommodate up to four basketball courts, with a running track on a mezzanine level above the courts. The center also will house a two-story rock-climbing wall, a weight-training area, locker rooms, and fitness-related offices.


CWU doesnt currently have a comparable student-recreation center, Campanella says.


The first floor of the student union portion of the structure will include the universitys bookstore, a residential dining area, and a large kitchen area. The schools radio station also will be located there, along with some meeting rooms.


The student unions second floor will house a number of nonacademic student-activity offices, a ballroom, and a theater with tiered seating that can be used either to show movies or for live theater productions.


BJSS Duarte Bryant, an Olympia, Wash.-based architectural firm, designed the structure.