Blue Mountain Community College has narrowed to four the candidates to design its new Hermiston classroom building.

Project committee members gathered Wednesday afternoon as the 3 p.m. deadline passed for architectural proposals. At stake is a contract for designing the Eastern Oregon Higher Education Center.

Susan Plass, director of grants, said the committee opened 15 proposals and validated 14 of them Wednesday. She said one proposal did not meet the college’s requirements and was discarded.

Thursday the team reviewed and scored the proposals. Plass said the submissions mostly were from Oregon, and mostly from Portland. One came from Idaho and several from Washington state.

“We’re evaluating them on quality of architectural services, not on cost,” she said Thursday. “That doesn’t come in until the interview stage.”

The committee comprises Turner; Jer Pratton, former Hermiston superintendent; Plass; Margaret Saylor, associate vice president and Hermiston center director; Topher McClellan, BMCC accountant; and Brad Holden of the college’s information technology staff.

President John Turner said the committee, without him, narrowed the 14 proposals to four. Those firms will be scheduled for interviews next week, he said.

After the interviews, Turner will make a recommendation to college directors during a special conference call meeting Oct. 23. Plass said the staff hopes the board will approve his recommendation that day so the college can move ahead with design on the project.

On Oct. 5, representatives of 37 architectural firms attended the college’s pre-proposal conference.

Turner told them the building should accommodate 15 to 20 classrooms, including two science laboratories and a computer lab. It also would include some faculty offices. It is to be built on 6.7 acres the city of Hermiston has donated. The site is north of Columbia Boulevard, across from BMCC’s Hermiston Center.

The project’s cost is estimated at $8.5 million, but it could grow to $9.6 million if the college can raise more money through grants or perhaps a bond levy, Turner said.

Committee members envision the structure covering 28,000 to 32,000 square feet. They hope to have it ready to occupy for fall term 2011.

“It’s going to be a great addition to higher education in Eastern Oregon,” Turner said.