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Portland State University has selected an architect and a general contractor for a $44 million project to renovate and expand a campus athletics and physical education building to hold a new multipurpose arena.

University officials chose Portland-based Woofter Architecture to design the project and Fortis Construction to construct it. The 4,000-seat Viking Pavilion for educational, community and athletic events will be part of an approximately 100,000-square-foot expansion to the existing 132,000-square-foot Peter W. Stott Center on Portland’s South Park Blocks.

The project will bring much-needed upgrades to the aging Stott Center building, which was constructed in 1966, PSU spokesman Scott Gallagher said. Another goal is to preserve existing classrooms and increase student study areas available on campus, he said.

鈥淲e were in desperate need of just study spaces and places to gather,鈥� he said.

Along with event and athletic space, Viking Pavilion will include health and physical education classrooms and an academic center with computer labs and study areas for student advising, academic coaching and tutoring.

When the pavilion is complete, PSU and the surrounding community will gain a large event space that the campus lacks currently, Gallagher said. Oregon Health & Science University, which recently contributed $7.5 million to the project, will also use the space to host graduations, lectures and other large events that it can’t accommodate on its constrained Marquam Hill campus.

The new arena will be easily accessible by public transportation, making it ideal for a variety of community uses as well, Gallagher said.

鈥�(In) downtown Portland, there aren’t that many spaces to gather with that many seats,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s the perfect place for an event center.鈥�

Construction is scheduled to start in January 2016 and finish by spring 2018.