PORT ANGELES — Goodbye tennis courts. Hello, Allied Health Building.
A group of 14 people played in the Wooden Raquet Tournament on Saturday to say farewell to the courts on the south side of the Peninsula College campus in Port Angeles.
The courts are to be demolished for construction of a $25.6 million Allied Health and Early Childcare center at the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., once funding is assured.
The price includes $23.79 million for construction that is included in the capital budgets passed by both the state Senate and the House.
The final legislative budget is under consideration now during the present special session.
An additional $1.8 million was allocated for architects Schacht Aslani of Seattle.
The two-story, 41,650-square-foot structure will house programs now operating from Buildings L and LE.
Those aging buildings — L was built in 1980 and LE in 1992 — will be razed after construction is completed.
The project is expected to begin soon with work lasting 18 months.
No one won or lost at Saturday’s tournament,which was hosted by the college, said Dave Shargel, a member of the Peninsula Tennis Club, a co-organizer of the event with Tim Tucker, an assistant coach at Peninsula College.
“Everyone played for fun,” Shargel said.
Among the participants in the game — which used old-fashioned wooden rackets — was the president of the college, Luke Robins, a longtime tennis player, Shargel said.
The tournament was important because the courts had great sentimental value for many, said Tucker, who also works with the Peninsula College Foundation.
“I know the tennis community has lost courts,” Shargel said.
“These courts for a lot of people in town were the inception of the Peninsula Tennis Club.”
He said the college has put out the word that no programs can be planned on the courts after the end of the spring quarter in June.
The new building will include classrooms and learning labs for Peninsula College’s nursing and medical assisting programs and early childhood education classes, student study spaces and gathering places, faculty and staff offices, and a child care facility and play yard for toddlers and preschoolers.
Infant care is possible if demand justifies it, said Laura Price, college capital coordinator.
The building will be the first new one at Peninsula College to be constructed under Robins’ leadership.
He oversaw the 2010 construction of the $45 million main campus at the new Louisiana Delta Community College in Monroe, La., before he joined Peninsula College in July 2012.
Former college President Tom Keegan oversaw the replacement of about 75 percent of the campus buildings during his 11-year term, from 2001 to 2012.
Construction during the Keegan era included the Student Services Building in 2004, the Keegan Hall technology and science building, and Peninsula College Longhouse and House of Learning in 2007, Library Media Center and administration building in 2008, and Maier Hall arts and humanities in 2011.
In 2011, Wally Sigmar Field received a $1.45 million artificial turf upgrade.
In January 2013, a $1.2 million sports complex fitness center expansion was completed.
