Starting construction this summer, a significant renovation of Spokane Community College’s Building 1 will create a new “front door” for the entire campus and also bring currently scattered student services together in one cluster.
The $25 million project will renovate existing space within Building 1 and add a prominent new entrance along the east side of the building, which faces one of the core campus’s main parking lots and its transit center. The project was spurred in part by the construction of the North Spokane Corridor project, which brings an elevated freeway structure to the west side of campus near its landmark Brutalist-style clock tower, which was spared an originally-planned demolition to make way for the freeway.
"For decades, the front door of our campus was on the Greene Street side," said SCC President Dr. Jenni Martin. "With the North Spokane Corridor project changing how people access campus, it made sense to rethink that approach. But today, the bigger driver is the student experience."
Building 1, the largest and one of the oldest buildings in Washington's community and technical college system, currently houses academic programs, administrative offices, and some student support functions, which are also spread across multiple other buildings.
"A student could visit four different buildings just to get enrolled," Martin said. "This project will allow students to come through one door and get the support they need in one place."
The renovated space will bring together admissions and registration, financial aid, counseling, disability access services, outreach programs, the cashier, and the college's Sasquatch One Stop service center.
"Students often have multiple things they need to get done," said Jeff Hyslop, Principal at NAC Architecture, the firm planning the renovation. "Right now, they're handed off from building to building. In the new model, staff can walk a student down the hall to the next person who can help."
The renovation also establishes a clear visual pathway from the new entrance into the heart of campus, including the walkway between Building 1 and the Lair Student Center, which itself opens onto SCC’s central circular quad.
"We're creating a straight line from the front door to the main spine of campus," Hyslop said. "Students will immediately know where to go."
Construction is expected to begin this summer, with the renovated facility opening in early 2028.