The federal government cutback of military spending is turning out to be a gold mine for Pacific.
Pacific University president Lesley Hallick announced that Pacific will be acquiring a variety of abandoned building from various military posts to add space on campus “temporarily.”
“We did it with Warner and that has lasted temporarily for 60 years. Who knows how long these more modern buildings can last?”
Among the buildings Pacific is looking at are three old barracks from McCord-Lewis in Tacoma. “They haven’t been used for 20 years,” said Hallick, “but you can never have too much dorm space for freshmen.”
Hallick also said that two large Quonset huts are being looked at for expanded dining space. “We are also looking at one for the media arts department,” she explained.
“It would make a wonderful film studio if they patched the cracks and put up some egg cartons for insulation.”
A move to bring several abandoned storage bunkers for the Umatilla nerve weapons facility in eastern Oregon to be used as science labs has been dropped. “We figure we could dig the holes here ourselves,” Hallick said.
Hallick said the availability of these “repurposed” building was a double benefit to Pacific.
“Now we’ll have the ability to not only build building three in Hillsboro, but four and five as well.”
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