Westside Location in Bend for OSU-Cascades
OSU-Cascades has ended months of suspense by finally selecting a site for the new four year campus.
$13,000,000 in Bend
With a price tag of nearly $13,000,000, the 56 acre parcel is on Bend’s westside. The site beat out a bevy of other locations (the most notable being Juniper Ridge). It’s located near the intersection of Southwest Century Drive and Chandler Avenues in Bend
and is a half-mile from the Graduate & Research Center, 1.9 miles from downtown Bend, 1.3 miles from the Old Mill, and 2.8 miles from Central Oregon Community College.
As OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson put it, “It’s really very indicative of Central Oregon’s environment. You’ve got the Ponderosa pines, the High Desert landscape, and of course, the breweries”
(maybe should didn’t say it exactly like that, but close).
Pumice Mine in Bend
A portion of the new site served as a former pumice mine, and is not especially attractive.
As of yesterday, it’s a bit difficult to imagine the transformation to a green grass quadrangle, campus center, littered with lovely coeds.
Some of whom might someday graduate.
What Lies Ahead?
The plan is to move forward briskly, with construction starting by early summer of 2014. The university purports to have $11,000,000 ear-marked for development. The first building is slated to be a “learning center” . . . part dorm, part classroom.
Freshman and sophomores will be admitted in the fall of 2015. By 2025, the plan is to have 5000 students. Wow!
School officials will propose the acquisition to the Finance and Administration Committee of the State Board of Higher Education at its Sept. 20 meeting.
The Winners?
Aside from the lucky students who get to go to school in a great place like Bend, the real winners, in my opinion, are the owners of Cascade Lakes Lodge and Ale House
. . . the brew pub that will be located across the street from the new campus’s 5000 thirsty undergraduates!
Search anonymously for homes near the new OSU-Cascades campus.
