A plan to replace the big Johnson Hall research laboratory at Washington State Universitys Pullman campus has ballooned into a proposed six-building research and education complex that would cost an estimated $333 million.


The half-dozen structures together would include at least 609,000 square feet of floor space, much of which would be laboratory space, says Jerry Schlatter, executive director of WSUs capital planning and development department. Another 100,000 square feet of space might be added to the complex to accommodate an auditorium, a library, a caf, and other common-space uses.


WSU would like the structures to be built over the course of the next nine years, though that timetable would depend on the schools ability to secure capital funding from the Legislature, Schlatter says.


Plans call for the structures to be connected via both skywalks and tunnels. The idea behind the big projects is to create a multidisciplinary research complex in which scientific collaboration can take place, Schlatter says.


The buildings will be erected east of Stadium Way and Martin Stadium, between Wilson and South Fairway roads. Currently, that property is occupied by Johnson Hall and its annex, tennis courts, and surface parking.


The first of the six planned structures, a four-story, 93,000-square-foot plant biosciences building, is already under way along Stadium Way. The structure is directly west of and will be connected with Johnson Hall, which is expected to be demolished later in the decade.


The $39 million biosciences building is scheduled to be completed in fall 2005.


Paul Couture, a project manager with WSUs capital planning department, says that building will include classroom and common space on the ground floor and laboratory space on the upper floors.


Work on the second structure, called the biotechnology-life sciences building, could start next year if the Washington state Legislature funds the project in the 2005-2007 biennium, Schlatter says. The Legislature has approved design funds for that building. If lawmakers approve construction money next session, the building could be completed in fall 2007.


Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, and LMN Architects PS, of Seattle, have been selected as the general contractor-construction manager team for that project and have begun design work.


The biotechnology-life sciences building, which would be constructed just north of the plant biosciences building, is expected to include five levels with a total of 105,000 square feet of floor space. It would include laboratory space, office space, administrative space for the newly-created Center for Integrated Biotechnology, and a vivarium, which is a place where animals are raised for research purposes. The total cost of that project is expected to be about $61.5 million.


Meanwhile, early design work is under way on a third building, which would be built with federal funds. That $48 million structure would house the U.S. Department of Agricultures Agricultural Research Sciences operations at WSU. Schlatter says the federal agencys on-campus researchers work with the schools faculty and students on research projects.


The USDA building would have five levels and a total of about 96,000 square feet of floor space, and would be located generally east of the first two buildings. Schlatter says work on that building likely would start while the biotechnology-life sciences structure is being built and is projected to be completed in fall 2008.


The other three buildings all would be roughly the same sizefive levels with about 100,000 square feet of floor space eachand each would cost close to $61.5 million. Schlatter says WSU likely would seek funding for one structure in each biennium between 2007 and 2011, and those buildings likely would come on line between 2009 and 2013.


WSUs research facilities currently are scattered around campus, Schlatter says. Once the park is well under way, WSU will begin looking into renovation projects that could occur in the older buildings.