Whitworth College says it hopes to start work this fall on a $6.5 million academic building on its North Spokane campus, its first new academic building since 1956.


Whitworth has raised $3.2 million in donations so far for the new building, which will be named Weyerhaeuser Hall, and plans to break ground on the project after the full $6.5 million is pledged, says Greg Orwig, spokesman for the college.


Steve Thompson, Whitworths director of facilities, says that could be as soon as this fall. If so, the building would be completed in time for the fall semester of the 2003-2004 school year.


Thompson says the small private college hired Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, last week to perform pre-construction services and to be the general contractor once work begins. Spokanes 3E Design Group PS designed the structure.


The three-story building will include about 33,000 square feet of floor space and will be located on the former site of Leavitt Dining Hall, between the Lindaman Center and McMillan Hall near the center of Whitworths campus.


Leonard Oakland, a Whitworth English professor and chairman of the projects design committee, says the building will include a 230-seat lecture hall as well as smaller classrooms. It also will include office space for three academic departmentshistory and politics, sociology, and the School of Global Commerceand will house Whitworths Regional Resource Center, established for the study of regional social and economic issues, and the Weyerhaeuser Center for Faith and Learning.