While in-person classes were canceled, construction on the Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation building continued.

Contractors have officially turned the building over to the university.

“With the major construction done and now we are allowed [to] have people in the building,” said Jacob Lenson, assistant vice chancellor of Campus Planning.

The 68,000-square-foot facility will contain research and teaching labs and house PNW’s College of Nursing and the Department of Biological Sciences. It will soon be filled with furniture and equipment, preparing for students and faculty to begin classes in the fall.

When completed, the building will serve as a hub for enhancing health care education, a leading economic driver in the region. It will be the first new academic building on the Hammond campus in nearly 20 years.

Construction was delayed only slightly by COVID-19. Lenson said fabricators’ employees were found to be infected with the virus, resulting in some delays in delivering construction materials.

Work has now begun on redoing the parking lot in front of the bioscience building. Parking lot reconstruction, which started April 20, is planned to finish by July 24.

“This project on the parking lot is to create a safer space for pedestrians and students,” Lenson said.