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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend November 5, 2005 Long-range plans for Rogue Community College�s campus downtown call for demolishing the building at right and creating a courtyard. This view was taken from the Central Library. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Dream campus RCC proposes ambitious project to transform downtown Medford By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune In a plan that would transform downtown Medford in coming decades, Rogue Community College wants to double the amount of space it occupies, adding a courtyard, a black box theater, tutoring center and bookstore. The school is mapping out long-range possibilities for its Riverside Campus, even as it plans its first improvement — a building shared with Southern Oregon University to be built next year in the block bounded by East Eighth, Ninth and South Bartlett streets and South Riverside Avenue. The shared building would become the anchor for a cluster of educational buildings that ultimately could close that block of South Bartlett to create a campus green, according to a master plan being developed by Mahlum Architects of Portland. The plan would displace several businesses along Central Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets. "This is our dream campus for downtown," said Mary Louise Doran, executive dean of the Riverside Campus. "Never mind that we don’t own all the property or have money for it. If you don’t have the concept, you don’t know what you’re heading for." The long-range conceptual plan calls for several phases of construction to start in five to eight years, Doran said. A series of possible projects in the next 10 to 20 years would increase the amount of space the college has to about 232,200 square feet from roughly 117,600 square feet. Advertisement The next conceptual phase includes the construction of buildings that would stretch from the joint RCC-SOU building toward RCC’s main building on Central Avenue. They could house science and computer labs, a campus bookstore and more classrooms and office space. Those projects would force the demolition of the H Building at 116 S. Bartlett St., which houses theater arts and physical education classrooms, and the B Building at 227 E. Ninth St., where the college now has its bookstore, computer labs, offices and classrooms, Doran said. Both those buildings were obtained this summer. "We do own that property, but we haven’t asked the city or Medford Urban Renewal if it would be possible to close the street," she said. Taking control of the block of Bartlett Street between Eighth and Ninth streets is key to creating a central campus courtyard in later phases, Doran said. "We needed that central green as a non-traffic area to look like a campus," she said. New buildings along Central Avenue to enclose the courtyard would complete the last step of the proposed long-term plan. It envisions more classrooms and a small theater that could be configured for theater in the round or other presentations. Doran said the college would like to work with the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater and Rogue Gallery to enhance RCC’s arts offerings. "We want to integrate services with our neighbors," she said. The school hasn’t contacted neighboring businesses or property owners about distant plans or worked out details of off-site parking that would be needed, she said. She hopes state funding might be available, but the college hasn’t identified any sources. Campus expansion plans don’t worry Tom Monson, whose family owns Nathan James Fine Men's Clothing and Accessories and Mary Elizabeth for Me women’s clothing store at 125 S. Central — space targeted for the theater and final set of classrooms. "We’re on a five-year lease and wouldn’t mind at all it they wanted this space eventually," he said. The college is a welcome addition to Jackson County and generally a good neighbor, Monson said. However, having a downtown campus can be trying for nearby merchants whose customers must compete with students for limited parking. Meanwhile, RCC and SOU officials are working out financial details for the joint building funded by the Legislature this year. The initial proposal for the project included 93,000 square feet of floor space and was estimated to cost nearly $24 million, but those figures could change depending on available funds and building costs, Doran said. The state provided $5.5 million in bonding authority, along with $3 million outright in state funding for SOU and another $4.1 million in state bonding authority for RCC. Each school also must provide some of its own money, with RCC putting up as much as $6.9 million from its 2004 bond measure and SOU still struggling to raise roughly $2.5 million from grants, donations and property sales. Doran said the two schools want to have details pinned down so they can hire an architect in January. Construction is expected to start next year. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail Dream campus ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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