Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin file photoWork continues on the main academic building at the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend in this photo from July 26. Funding for future construction passed a review by a state commission before going to the governor.

The main academic building at the new OSU-Cascades campus is on track to be ready when school starts less than two months from now, while many students will spend the first three months of the school year dining and living across town at Central Oregon Community College.

The first classes at the new campus start Sept. 19, when OSU-Cascades will welcome an estimated 875 undergraduate students.

In recent weeks many of the paved sidewalks connecting the buildings on campus have been poured, and crews have continued working on the interior finishes of the three buildings under construction.

OSU-Cascades construction project manager John Condon said last week that roughly 170 construction workers are working on the site seven days a week, down from close to 200 earlier in the summer.

The interiors of the academic building, Tykeson Hall, are substantially complete.

Carpeting is in place, much of it with an OSU-themed black and orange color scheme. Bathroom fixtures and video projection equipment have been installed and the walls painted, and in the third floor science labs, chemical ventilation hoods and other equipment are in place.

While temperatures flirted with 90 degrees outside, the inside of Tykeson Hall was comfortable on Tuesday, even with the air-conditioning system yet to be turned on.

Condon said by late August, Tykeson Hall is expected to be sufficiently finished that university staff can begin moving their personal items in to their new offices.

The four-story residence hall, L-shaped and fronting Century Drive, is not due to be completed until nearly the end of the year.

Christine Coffin, an OSU-Cascades spokeswoman, said residential students will be housed at Juniper Hall on the COCC campus initially, and be bused to classes on the OSU-Cascades campus. The community college recently built a new residence hall to replace Juniper Hall.

Dormitory and apartment-style units on the fourth floor of the residence hall are nearly finished, with carpet, paint, and kitchen and bathroom fixtures in place. Refrigerators, dishwashers and stoves for the apartment units are not likely to be delivered until October or November.

Interior work at the residence hall is being tackled from the top floor down. Sheetrock has been put up in the third-floor units and is likely to be painted next week, Condon said, with carpeting and other interior finish work to follow.

Installation of the exterior siding on the residence hall is expected to be completed in a month or two.

Condon said it’s likely portions of the residence hall will be inhabitable by late fall, but the university plans to delay its opening until winter break — classes end Dec. 9 and resume Jan. 9 — to make the moving-in process smoother.

“People aren’t too happy if you try to move ’em during finals week,” he said.

The third building on the new campus, which combines the dining facility, staff offices and classrooms, won’t be ready in time for the start of the school year but could be done a few weeks before the completion of the residence hall.

Food service on the new campus will be limited until the completion of the dining hall, Coffin said. Students living in the COCC dormitory will be on a COCC meal plan, she said, where they’ll have the option of ordering food to go if they need a lunch they can eat in between classes at the OSU-Cascades campus. She said the campus is likely to have a small coffee shop with packaged snacks, but students and faculty have multiple dining options just down the road along Century Drive.

Landscaping of the new campus is expected to begin in mid-August, with the planting of a grassy lawn and aspen trees to the south of Tykeson Hall. Condon said the landscaping contractor has advised the university to hold off on planting other trees until September, when cooler temperatures are more likely to ensure their survival.

A second grass lawn south of the residence hall is expected to be planted next spring. Much of the rest of the campus will remain without landscaping, Condon said, though some desert grasses and shrubs will be planted in natural areas that will not be irrigated.

With construction set to continue into the first few months of the school year, parking will be at a premium on a campus that was designed with limited parking to begin with.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387,

shammers@bendbulletin.com