10A • January 16, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Conference center to build new kitchen, dining room
Construction
will begin this
year on phase
one of project
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
A long-planned renova-
tion at the Cannon Beach
Christian Conference Cen-
ter will begin this year and
run through 2019.
The center’s kitchen and
dining room, housed in a
World War II-era build-
ing east of North Spruce
Street, will be torn down
and rebuilt as a larger, more
modern complex. The new
building won’t sit in the old
footprint but will overlap
with it, taking up a portion
of the adjacent yard.
The existing kitchen no
longer has enough space to
prepare more than 380,000
meals per year (at least
1,000 per day), Executive
Director Jeff Carlsen said.
Nor does the dining room,
“originally built to hold
about 150 guests,” give
the center much room to
accommodate its growing
demand.
The conference center
serves more than 17,000
guests a year, including
more than 150 church or
Christian groups.
“We pack that building
out. We’re elbow-to-elbow
with people now,” Carlsen
said. “It will make it be a
much more positive expe-
rience with folks sharing
meals and sharing round the
tables.”
With the second-story
dorms included, the existing
building has 12,327 square
feet. Its successor, whose
XSSHU ÀRRU DOVR ZLOO IHD-
ture a conference room, is
designed for 16,509 square
feet — a 34 percent increase
in space.
With the added space,
the new complex will give
the conference center more
room to continue doing what
it has done for decades: pro-
vide instruction, hospitality
and recreation for guests
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Jeff Carlsen, executive director of the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center, tours
the center’s current 5,200-square-foot dining room. The new dining room will be 6,700
square feet.
The Christian Conference Center’s existing dining room
(pictured) lies just east of where part of the new kitchen and
dining complex will sit. Any trees removed will be replaced.
and spiritual seekers.
Unlike the current kitch-
en and dining room, built in
1948, the new complex will
be up to code. It will also
have better technology and
audio-visual equipment for
conferences, presentations,
banquets and other gather-
ings, Carlsen said.
‘Old as the hills’
The construction is
scheduled to happen in
two phases. Phase one
(2015-16) will involve
building the new kitchen
and phase two (2017-19),
the dining room.
The time line is tentative,
however, and may be ex-
tended, depending on vol-
unteers’ schedules.
A design review permit
application may be sub-
mitted this spring, Carlsen
said. If that gets approved
on time, the ground work
may start before the center’s
summer conference season
begins in June, he added.
As construction begins,
some trees near the cur-
rent complex may need to
be removed; they will be
replaced in the site plan,
Carlsen said. A rock struc-
ture that has “historic and
sentimental value” to the
center will be relocated.
Except for some dou-
ble-pane windows, air con-
ditioning units and pieces of
kitchen equipment, the cen-
ter will recycle very few of
the original building’s mate-
rials, he said.
“There’s not much to
save, to be quite honest
with you,” he said. Most of
what constitutes the current
building is “old as the hills
and completely worn out.”
The center had to fumi-
gate the building several
years ago because of a pow-
derpost beetle infestation.
Carlsen estimates the
total cost will fall between
$2.8 and $3.5 million, he
said.
Volunteers
Founded in 1945, the
Christian Conference Cen-
ter’s sprawling campus
comprises several dozen
buildings, most of which
were built between the
1950s and 1970s.
“In recent years, we’ve
been having to replace
them,” Carlsen said, adding
that the new complex will
be more expensive than pre-
vious projects but “in many
ways, no different.”
Historically, the center
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
From left: Danielle, a bakery assistant, Tim and Ben, two kitchen assistants (last names
withheld) prepare food in the Christian Conference Center’s World War II-era kitchen.
More than 380,000 meals are prepared in this space every year, Executive Director Jeff
Carlsen said.
has funded the construc-
tion of its buildings entire-
ly through donations rath-
er than borrowed money,
he said.
It also tries to rely as
much as possible on local
subcontractors and vol-
unteer labor. The use of
volunteers is expected to
save the center more than
$300,000 on this latest
project, he said.
Mark Hadley, of Port-
land, the volunteer land-
scape architect on the new
kitchen and dining room,
said his overriding design
theme will have a “coastal
vernacular.”
“We need to make it feel
like its place in the world,”
he said.
Hadley and Guy Wil-
Coastal Advantage
liams, the volunteer project
manager, have both donated
their services to the center
on past projects.
“It’s just a very reward-
LQJIXO¿OOLQJZD\WRXWLOL]H
the talents that I’ve been
given,” said Williams, who
lives in Pullman, Wash. “It’s
a wonderful ministry, and
it’s a blessing to be able to
be used in that manner.”
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