OSU-Cascades Gets State Bond

Oregon State University-Cascades will be growing. The university announced June 28 it received over $10 million in private gifts, exceeding the philanthropic match required for state bond money for the next academic building on the Bend campus.

These gifts—including private donations from the Tykeson Family Foundation, Charles McGrath and anonymous sources—combined with the $39 million in bonds approved by the Oregon State Legislature in its last session will fund a state-of-the-art building focused on the STEAM principles of science, technology, engineering, arts and math, OSU-Cascades said in a release.

Earlier in June, the Bend City Council unanimously approved OSU-Cascades campus master plan for development of a 128-acre campus that over the next 20 years will serve up to 3,000 to 5,000 students, the university said.

The plan covers the three adjoining properties that the university owns: the existing 10-acre campus, a 46-acre former pumice mine and the 72-acre plot that used to be the Deschutes County demolition landfill. OSU-Cascades officials said the plan details how campus districts will serve academic functions, residential housing, recreation and an innovative district where businesses can locate and collaborate with the school’s research faculty and student interns. The plan also calls for 10 miles of walking and biking paths.

The first phase of development will be an OSU-Cascades-funded roundabout at Columbia Road and Colorado Avenue. During the campus buildout, nearly 12 additional infrastructure improvements will be funded, including new street turn lanes and sidewalks. The school will also create 1,766 on-campus parking spaces—and has the flexibility to build 514 more —which exceeds City requirements, according to OSU-Cascades.

Also this year, the State of Oregon listed OSU-Cascades as a separate institution in the next round of construction funding. An April 23 letter from Ben Cannon, Higher Education Coordinating Commission executive director, to state legislative leaders included the change and outlined how the 14-member panel will handle the 2019 to 2021 university capital projects list.