Crews have started a demolition project that will clear a downtown block to make way for an education center that Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University will share.
Malot Environmental, of Central Point, set to work during the first week of September demolishing the former Miller Motors building, Oak Merchant store, and a building where RCC held classes on the block bound by East Eighth, Ninth and South Bartlett streets, and South Riverside Avenue.
By early next year, construction of a nearly 69,000-square-foot building should be under way at the site, RCC spokeswoman Margaret Bradford said. The demolition crews will recycle scrap metal and other reusable materials, including some concrete, from the site as they destroy the buildings, she said. A ceremonial knocking down of the final wall is planned for mid-October with officials from both schools and other partners such as the city and the Medford Urban Renewal Agency on hand to swing sledge hammers.
While crews remove the old buildings, plans for the new structure, which will include classrooms, computer labs, offices and a business center, have entered the final stages.
The building is estimated to cost $20.2 million with another $2 million going to "soft costs," including design, permits and other fees. Each school will contribute $11.1 million toward the project.
SERA Architects Inc., of Portland, has completed roughly 85 percent of the design work and is now developing the detailed plans that contractors will use to bid on and build the project, Bradford said. Adroit Construction Co., of Ashland, is the project's general contractor and manager. All the bid documents should be out by the end of the year so construction can start in January, Bradford said.
The plans still have two reviews by the city before the project can seek building permits, said Suzanne Myers, senior planner at the Medford planning department. The city's Historic Commission will review the plans to make sure the building is compatible with others in the historic district downtown. That review is set for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16, Myers said.
RCC officials said the building will have a brick facade that will look similar to the brick on the Ninth Street side of the Central Library. The city's Site Plan and Architectural Review Commission will review the landscape plan and other details on the look of the project at noon on Oct. 20.
"They can't get permits until these reviews are done," Myers said.
With construction starting this winter, the building should be done and open for classes in the fall of 2008, officials said. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485 or at aburke@mailtribune.com