Eastern Washington University’s $110 million Science Building renovation is nearing completion and is scheduled to open to students and faculty by this fall.

Phase two of the Science Building project, valued at $58 million, follows the completion of phase one in 2024 and includes interior and exterior updates on half of the two-story 148,000-square-foot structure.

Interior renovations of offices and laboratories, as well as courtyard landscaping, are currently underway, says Linn Parish, director of communications and media relations at EWU.

Finishing touches are ongoing in science classrooms where desks, equipment, and interior details such as ceiling tiles are being moved in and installed. On the first floor, new educational amenities include 15 biology research labs, three geologic research labs, a rock prep room, a vivarium and research room, two aquatics labs, five offices, and a greenhouse. The building’s second story has seven biology research labs, a biotechnology teaching room, three chemistry labs, 20 offices, and a greenhouse.

University faculty is scheduled to begin moving into new offices at the end of spring quarter, and lab spaces will be completed over the summer, Parish says. 

The 64-year-old building’s exterior facade is mostly finished. The bulk of the landscaping will be completed in the coming months, according to a press release from Eastern Washington University.

Spokane-based Leone & Keeble Inc. is the general contractor on the project. MW Constulting Engineers PS, also of Spokane, is providing mechanical and electrical engineering services. Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, is the architectural firm and has designed both the Science Building renovation project and a previous campus building update: the Interdisciplinary Science Center, a $70 million, 101,000-square-foot facility completed in 2020.

EWU's Science Building is located at 1175 Washington on the university’s campus in Cheney, directly southwest of the Interdisciplinary Science Center. The two buildings are connected by a skybridge, with a combined area of about 250,000 square feet.

—Ethan Pack