The Science II building, a part of Destination 2010, has currently been put on hold and will not receive funding for the 2008-09 year.

Last fall, Sacramento State hired WRNS Studio in San Francisco as the project architect.

Mitch Fine, WRNS Studio architect, said funding was so limited the design process had to be divided into two phases.

“The preliminary phase will be to gather data on the site,” Fine said in a telephone interview. “We will form a generic cost estimate and confirm the size, basic shape and put it together on a spreadsheet.”

WRNS Studio will complete the preliminary phase this year.

Until more funding is approved for the project, WRNS will not be able to begin the second part of the project. The second phase is the actual drafting and design of the building.

Ronald Richardson, facilities manager at Sac State, said funding might be possible in 2009-10.

The Science II center got a boost in 2006, when a Federal grant for planetarium equipment and several private donors contributed to a museum. A natural history museum was also planned.

The project has now been scaled down considerably, with the planetarium and space center built into the science II building instead of separately as originally planned.

Richardson said the funds from private donors and the federal grant are still available, but all funds remaining for the science II project have been used to complete other projects on campus.

The Chancellor’s office is currently negotiating with the Department of Finance and state legislators in an attempt to gain more funding.

Clara Potes-Fellow, spokesperson for the CSU Chancellor’s office, said funding will require state legislation.

“Nothing has happened yet,” Potes-Fellow said.

Derek Fleming can be reached at [email protected]