Plans proceed for full-service West Campus

Boise State’s new West Campus, located north of the Idaho

Center, will soon break ground on its second addition, a

multipurpose building—the first on the Nampa campus to house

academic classes. The first building, known as the TECenter, an

incubator for new high-technology businesses, opened in Spring

2003. With the Idaho Legislature’s approval of $68 million in

state bonds for campus construction statewide, expansion of the

West Campus will begin in August.

Boise State is in the process of bonding for the new building,

which will cost about $10 million to complete. The Multipurpose

Building is scheduled to open Jan 2003, in time for spring

classes.

Kevin Satterlee, BSU associate vice president for planning, said

construction of the building has been on hold since the state

budget crunch materialized two years ago.

Three years ago, the Idaho Legislature appropriated $2 million

for the university to plan and begin construction on the campus

infrastructure. The 2000 Legislative session appropriated an

additional $3 million to complete that infrastructure and another

$500,000 to design the Multipurpose Building.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s Press Secretary Mark Snider said

although bonding for the second building was approved by the

legislature in a previous session, the funds had to be retracted in

order to balance the budget.

Snider said the state-bonded projects will help spur the economy

by providing jobs in construction and creating additional staff

positions to operate the new facilities.

The new multipurpose building at Boise State West will be the

first academic installation with one large lecture hall, 14

classrooms, a small branch of Albertson’s Library and a

bookstore.

Additional buildings will consist of a mix of academic and

service buildings organized around a central quadrangle, connected

by a network of pedestrian paths. The 150-acre site allows for

ample parking and additional buildings as the campus grows to meet

the needs of local residents.

Academic classes now held at the Canyon County Center will be

moved to the Multipurpose Building once it’s built. The

current Canyon County Campus, located at 2407 Caldwell Blvd. in

Nampa, was established in 1986. From an original enrollment of 80

students, the campus has grown to serve more than 6,000 people each

year and offers more than 70 academic courses, several applied

technology courses and non-credit job training, adult basic

education and English as a second language courses.

Jessica Adams
Managing Editor
The Arbiter

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