By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
NEWPORT — When Oregon State University asked years ago to expand its Hatfield Marine Science Center it made a commitment to develop housing for some of the students, faculty and researchers drawn to the new facility.
On Monday, it officially broke ground on a $16.5 million, 77-unit apartment project to do just that.
The 34,000-square-foot complex will feature 72 studio-style units and five two-bedroom units that can serve both shorter and longer-term stays. The apartments are being built on five acres off Southeast 40th Street in the Wilder development area of South Beach, about three-quarters of a mile from the Hatfield campus on Yaquina Bay
The project is being financed with $10 million in OSU-paid bonds and $6.5 million from the Oregon Legislature.
Scaled back substantially from original plans, the apartments are intended to help fulfill an OSU promise to provide workforce-style housing to the growing number of students and faculty using its four-year-old Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building.
Under current timelines, the apartments could be ready to open for fall 2025 classes.
When OSU proposed the marine studies building, center director Bob Cowan said Monday, “we promised we would not send students and faculty into the city of Newport to look for housing” and to also house them out of the tsunami zone.
“We’re super happy to be at this stage,” Cowan said. “Housing is critical to the future of Hatfield Marine Science Center and its ability to support coastal and marine research and education opportunities.”
The marine studies center has a big impact on the central Oregon coast. It employs more than 400 people, serves 35-40 more from state and federal agencies and has a $45 million yearly operating budget. Despite opening the new center six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the number of classes has grown to nearly 50 and there are 480 students, the majority of them graduate students.
But the lack of housing has been a constraint to recruiting students and scientists to Hatfield, OSU officials said.
There is some older housing near the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building – 16 units for students and visiting faculty. But many commute from the Corvallis area or other coastal cities, or – like hundreds of others – search for housing in Newport.
“People who want to work in our community also want to live here,” Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis told a small audience at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site Monday.
Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, said the new apartments will alleviate some of the housing pressure elsewhere in the area.
“We have a long ways to go, but this is a nice place to start for the coast,” he said.
OSU’s property is large enough to allow for expansion based on future demand.
The project architect is Mackenzie Inc. of Portland and the general contractor is O’Brien & Lucas Ventures, a partnership of O’Brien Design + Build of Newport/Astoria and Lucas Design-Build of Portland.
O’Brien chief executive officer Keeley O’Brien told the groundbreaking audience that workforce housing is an issue for his company as well.
“We’re part of this community,” O’Brien said. “Even for us, finding labor and housing on the coast is hard.”
It’s about time they built something out of the tsunami zone. Housing in particular.
I love seeing this kind of work being done for our beautiful state. This is such a great story to see when so many others put down everything good Oregon has to offer.