Architects look for ways to cut costs

Plans for a food service complex — including a McMenamins pub — on the ground floor of Oregon State University's new parking garage are on hold while the architects look for ways to bring mushrooming costs under control.

The budget for the 30,000-square-foot dining center was pegged at $8 million, according to Rich Turnbull, associate director of University Housing & Dining Services, which operates dorms and dining halls on campus. But when project managers presented their projections a month ago, Housing & Dining officials suffered a case of sticker shock.

"The cost estimates came in at not quite double that, but damn close," Turnbull said Monday.

The complex is intended to replace Arnold Dining Center, an aging facility that serves about 900 dormitory residents on the south side of campus. Plans call for several restaurants and an upscale grocery store, as well as a restaurant that would be operated by McMenamins, the highly successful brewpub chain founded by a pair of OSU grads.

Several factors pushed the price tag beyond initial expectations, Turnbull said, including a spike in the price of metal construction materials and unexpected heating and cooling expenses associated with the building design.

Housing & Dining officials decided to do some "value engineering," Turnbull said, looking at ways to save money by downsizing their wish list for the complex. For instance, the finished product likely will not include a planned biofuel dock for collecting used cooking oil.

"It was a really cool idea, but that was an expensive little feature that probably will get axed out," Turnbull said.

Even though money for the project is being put up by University Housing & Dining Services and would not come out of OSU's budget, Turnbull said, legislative approval is required because the department is considered an auxiliary state agency. That means the state would have to sign off on any budget increase.

Turnbull said he's expecting revised estimates from Siena Architecture Co. of Portland and Howard S. Wright Construction of Seattle by the middle of October. If costs can be brought back under the original budget, the project will move forward. If not, Housing & Dining would have to decided whether to proceed with the project at all.

That decision will hinge on making cost estimates pencil out in a way that provides a reasonable return on investment, he said. If that can't be done, then a McMenamins pub most likely would not be built on campus.

"If there's not a viable dining project, we have no interest in simply leasing out space to McMenamins," Turnbull said. "We want McMenamins to be part of an overall dining project."

Company owners Brian and Mike McMenamin could not immediately be reached for comment.

Plans for the campus pub hit another snag earlier this year when some student leaders complained about introducing a restaurant that serves alcohol into an undergraduate setting.

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.