Life sciences complex ready for design phase

Board grants permission to move forward with $160m collaborative project Corie Charnley Vanguard staff At its meeting this month, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education voted to proceed with planning for the Life Sciences Collaborative Complex. moving the project forward into its design phase. The 263,000 square-foot building-which will be located near the south waterfront on the Oregon Health and Science’s Schnitzer Campus-will house educational and research facilities for several universities, including the Portland State biology and chemistry departments, OHSU medicine, dentistry, nursing and physician assistant schools, Oregon State University’s pharmacy school and retail spaces for private companies. “The motivation was to capitalize on the three universities involved: PSU, OHSU and OSU and to better support the bio- and life-sciences needs of the region,” said Jay Kenton, the OUS vice chancellor for finance and administration. The life sciences complex will also feature a lecture auditorium, classrooms, class simulation rooms, instructional wet labs, research labs, a vivarium and faculty offices, according to the project’s docket. “This is a significant project for both OHSU and OUS,” Kenton said. “PSU plans to locate its biology and chemistry programs at this location and that’s significant in that PSU is the largest supplier of medical students to OHSU [and is] thus building that relationship.” In utilizing the space at the facility, PSU expects to increase its student credit-hour capacity in the life sciences by 18 percent over the next seven years, according to material provided by OUS. In addition, PSU estimates that having access to the life sciences complex will help it double its research expenditures by 2015. “We view the collaboration as an important step for us in expanding our ability to serve additional students in the sciences,” said Marvin Kaiser, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It will also provide the opportunity for close interaction with OHSU and OSU health-related programs.” The OUS material also states that it is costly for each institution to facilitate its own research projects. However, the new facilities will provide shared instrumentation laboratories that can be used by several institutions, thus “avoiding duplication and saving millions of dollars.” According to Anna-Louise Reysenbach, chair of PSU’s biology department, teaching labs and research space will be located at the facility. Currently, the biology and chemistry departments’ labs are being upgraded, but the continuing growth of the programs will pose problems in the future. “We keep running out of space…so we need to plan for the future,” she said. “[The life sciences complex] will not only double our capacity, it will provide valuable links and opportunities at OSHU for students.” PSU will use about 64,000 square feet of the facility. The life sciences complex also has the potential to act as a business incubator; PSU estimates that one to three start-up companies will grow out of its labs each year. “[The collaboration] represents our commitment to bringing together the intellectual resources of OHSU and OUS to create critical masses of scientists and to enhance research in the biosciences in the Portland metropolitan region,” Kaiser said. The project was initially approved by the OUS Board as part of the 2009-11 Capital Outlay Budget and then by the governor and legislature in the state’s biennial budget process. According to Kenton, the project is being funded by a combination of OHSU gift funds, OUS bonds, state bonds and other private funds, including those from Tri-Met, which will provide a transit station at the site. Overall, the projected costs are $160 million. The project’s design phase is estimated to take anywhere from eight to 12 months. The facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. Project Funding According to Kenton, the breakdown of the project’s funding is: -Article XI-G bonds (state): $50 million. -Article XI-F bonds (OUS): $60 million. -OHSU gifts: $40 million. -TriMet: $10 million. Total: $160 million.��

College Station Apartments approved When completed, 16-story building will house 900 students Catrice Stanley Vanguard staff Student housing at Portland State will dramatically increase in the coming year as the result of the Portland Design Commission’s approval for the College Station Apartments. The structure was approved on May 20 by a 4-1 vote. The College Station Apartments will be a 16-story, multi-use building with 280-plus rooms. It will also encompass an entire block, according to an article in The Oregonian. Located at 1965 SW Fifth Ave., the College Station Apartments will provide space for an additional 900 student beds. Currently, the PSU campus only has about 2,200 beds available for students. The building itself will be a dramatic change to the current skyline on Fifth Avenue as well. The building will be U-shaped, and will contain a courtyard on the south side. The Figo House-a Victorian house that was built in 1894-will be located in the courtyard. Randal Acker moved his attorney firm, Acker & Associates P.C., into the two-story house in 2005, according to its website. From 2006 to 2008, TriMet tried to buy and demolish the Figo House in preparation for more tracks and the PSU dormitory. Acker refused to sell the building, and his associates banded together to save the house with a combination of media coverage, buttons and pamphlets. Now, agreements have been made to accommodate both parties. The Figo house will remain where it is, and the new College Station Apartments will be built around it. “This is like a little jewel box sitting in the courtyard,” Kurt Schultz, a principal in SERA Architecture, said of the Figo house in an article published by The Oregonian on Dec. 3. “It’s really a lovely building.” Last fall, student enrollment at PSU hit nearly 28,000 students. However, Mark Gregory, associate vice president for finance and administration, said that enrollment could easily hit 30,000 students in the upcoming academic year, according to an article published by The Oregonian on May 29. “We are getting bigger, faster than we ever have before,” he said. By the year 2035, PSU hopes to be able to provide 10,000 beds to its student population, according to the article. Lindsay Desrochers, vice president for finance and administration at PSU, reported in a Daily Journal of Commerce article that the student population at PSU is indeed growing, and the university is looking for ways to accommodate the number of residents hoping to live on campus. “Our goal is to house 25 percent of our student body in the long term,” she said. “It’s becoming clearer to the academic community that housing is key to the success of students.” This complex will not only house student dormitories, there will be a classroom, retail outlets and a TriMet office on the ground floor. TriMet plans to build light-rail stops on the east and west sides of the building once construction is complete, according to The Oregonian. PSU has teamed up with American Campus Communities, a private company based in Texas, to construct and manage the upper levels of the building that will be used for apartments. This will be the first time PSU has paired up with this company. While American Campus Communities will be managing and constructing, SERA Architecture will be designing the space. SERA Architecture, a Portland-based company, has worked with PSU in the past. Its website lists work such as the 2009 remodel of PSU’s Neuberger Hall and work on the Oregon Sustainability Center. Scott Gallagher, director of communications in university relations, reported in September 2009 that the university hopes to have the building completed in 2011. However, he could not be reached to confirm if the date was still accurate.