Fort Worden campus to get facelift

Proposed renovations for Building 202 at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. A Courtesy of Trisha Parker, PC Marketing Manager

By Steve Berry

Proposed renovations for Building 202 at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. (A) Courtesy of Trisha Parker, PC Marketing Manager

Students will not be displaced dur­ing the renovation in Fort Worden college classrooms. According to College Presi­dent Luke Robins the historic Building 202 is in need of renovation and upgrading, it will accomplish this while increasing space. If all goes well, the facility will open its doors tentatively the fall of 2016, Robins said.
Con­sider­ation of any new programs or classes, Robins explained, will be determined by an environmental scan of east Jefferson County which will be conducted and the infor­mation gathered from that will be used to make any decisions. Another possible problem facing Robins is President Obama’s proposal for the first two years of col­lege being offered to students for free.
“An interesting proposal and great talking point but we will have to wait for more infor­mation to come out because the devils are always in the details.” Robins said.

Proposed renovations for Building 202 at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. (B) Courtesy of Trisha Parker, PC Marketing Manager
Proposed renovations for Building 202 at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. (B) Courtesy of Trisha Parker, PC Marketing Manager

Robins signed a Memoran­dum of Agreement (MoA) Jan. 16 with the Fort Worden Public De­velopment Author­ity (PDA) Board Vice Chairman Scott Wilson, and Port Townsend Mayor David King. An agreement was made to split the remain­ing $500,000 in order to renovate Building 202 in Port Townsend. Now it can move to the next step in its development and secure a contractor bid. Peninsula College will provide $250,000 while the PDA and city of Port Townsend will provide the other $250,000.