ASTORIA Ore.

Clatsop Community College officials are hoping that federal officials will come through with a grant to help stabilize the crumbling facilities on the campus, which have been rated as 100 percent likely to collapse in a major earthquake.

Both of the two main buildings on campus, Towler and Patriot Halls, were designed in the 1920s by renowned Astoria architect John Wicks.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has about $100 million available in a "pre-disaster mitigation fund." Clatsop Community College is seeking about $1.5 million of that funding.

The grant proposal is due in January. Meanwhile, the college is working on broader renovation plans with a Portland architecture firm.

Plans have been drafted for several different building scenarios in the project's "first phase," which would cost anywhere from $15 million to $25 million and is set for completion in 2009.

The college already has almost $15 million for the project, including $7.5 million in state money that it matched by taking out loans.

Information from: The Daily Astorian, http://www.dailyastorian.com

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