The Dirt: Spokane Community College building $5 million transit center

A bigger, relocated transit center is coming to the campus of Spokane Community College, according to permits issued by the city.

The $5 million project will construct the eastern terminus for Spokane Transit Authority’s Central City Line, a bus rapid transit route that recently received $53.4 million from the federal government and will begin operating in 2021. The transit hub will continue serving multiple other routes to Spokane Valley, Millwood and other parts of the city of Spokane.

The relocation of the transit center, from its current spot facing Greene Street to one along Mission Avenue, is also related to construction of the North Spokane Corridor, the $1.5 billion freeway that will be elevated over the community college’s parking lot adjacent to Greene.

The transit center project also will bring improvements to Mission, reconstruction of the parking lot, a new rider and employee services building, passenger boarding areas, improved pedestrian walkways and connections, real-time bus arrival and departure signage and traffic signal upgrades for bus and automobile coordination.

The project is funded with $2 million from a local sales and use tax approved by voters in 2016 to fund STA’s Moving Forward plan, and $3 million from a Washington state regional mobility grant. The project is expected to be completed this fall.

ALSC Architects designed the project. Coffman Engineers was its engineer.

Gonzaga plans to demolish four houses vacated by university

Gonzaga University is demolishing four houses on campus, and the land will be turned into open space, according to permit data at the city.

Two of the homes were built in 1898, the other two in the 1940s, and they were used for various purposes. Following renovations of the Humanities Building and Robinson Hall in 2018, the programs the houses held were relocated and the houses left empty.

University spokeswoman Mary Joan Hahn said there are no specific plans for the properties and they will be put into temporary use as green space.

The homes are at 324 and 328 East Sharp Ave., 1027 N. Hamilton Ave. and 605 E. Boone Ave. Two of the homes are owned by the Corporation of Gonzaga University, and the other two by Gonzaga University.

Rob’s Demolition, of Spokane, is doing the work.