Gonzaga receives approval to build science building

SPOKANE (AP) — Gonzaga University won permission from the city this week to build a $48 million science and engineering building near the campus’s Arthur Lake, but the university is still raising the funds to pay for construction.

In a decision issued Monday, Brian McGinn, the city’s hearing examiner, approved the project, allowing the three-story building to be constructed within 200 feet of the lakeshore, which required his permission under the city’s law regulating development along shorelines.

A final determination for this project in regard to the shoreline rules will be made by the state Department of Ecology.

The 80,000-square-foot building, called the Integrated Science and Engineering Center, is the latest installment of a building boom on campus. The university recently constructed the $24 million Volkar Center for Athletic Achievement and the $13 million Della Strada Jesuit Community residential building. Work on the $30 million, 57,000-square-foot Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center is anticipated to be complete next year.

Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said the university hoped to raise half of the nearly $50 million needed to build the new science center. The other half will come from the university’s cash reserves and restructuring debt.

“We are actively in the process of fundraising for the center,” he said. “We’re still working towards it.”

In November, the university said it surpassed its two-year fundraising goal by bringing in $286 million. McCulloh said the work to raise more money for university construction and scholarship programs will continue through April or May.