The price tag for Columbia Basin College’s future arts building has increased $8 million.

The college’s Board of Trustees unanimously agreed this spring to request additional funding for the facility on the advice of the architecture firm helping to design the building. The Legislature appropriated $54.5 million for the project during the 2025 session.

Fortunately, the college will not need to wait for another appropriation from the Legislature to move ahead. The State Board of Community & Technical Colleges has signed off on CBC pulling from its own designated reserves to cover the additional costs.

Currently, the 31,000-square-foot P Building houses CBC’s arts, humanities and communications programs. It was built in 1971 and has a nearly 300-seat theater, art gallery space, a black box theater and an outdoor amphitheater that was added to the building’s west side about a decade ago.

Growing enrollment, accessibility, technology requirements to meet modern teaching needs and increasing maintenance costs drove the college’s efforts for years to secure funding for its replacement.

College officials are still working with Spokane-based architecture firm Integrus to design the building. The formal design process isn’t expected to begin until later this year and the earliest college officials have said the new facility would be built is 2028.

But the costs of construction materials have risen faster than anticipated when CBC began planning for the project years ago. Architects indicated more money will be needed to meet planned needs.

Securing permission for a bigger budget didn’t create any slowdown, Elizabeth Burtner, the college’s vice president of communications and external relations, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. The trustees seeking to increase the funding for the project from its reserves and securing approval from the state board to do so is all part of the required process to ensure the college has a balanced budget.