PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College on Thursday, Aug. 31, announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the FARM II project, slating the beginning of construction for the indoor rodeo arena on Sept. 18.

“Since last year we hired a design contract builder, with an architect, and we completed the full design as necessary to start with construction, with construction starting Sept. 18,” BMCC Chief Operations Officer Pat Sisneros said. “We expect construction will take a year and be done next year hopefully before Round-Up.”

Though the Facility for Agricultural Resource Management II could be operational by next year, he said, certain parts of the plans changed as the design became clearer, forcing the delay of certain originally desired components of the facility.

“It’s about 45,000 square feet, it’s an indoor rodeo arena,” Sisneros said. “The original concept was to have the arena and a few classrooms and offices. But as we went through the design process we made the decision that the project couldn’t afford the classrooms and offices, so we split it in two phases. The first phase has the indoor rodeo arena, and hopefully in the future we can include those classrooms down the road.”

Sisneros said FARM II will continue to evolve over time after the initial completion of the first phase, with hopeful inclusions of not just classrooms and offices but more elements to further support the rodeo community.

“We’re also looking to add horse stalls on the property, which can support community events and such,” Sisneros said.

The key to developing a facility such as FARM II and making it successful is ensuring it can be used for a large variety of purposes, Sisneros said, which designers have taken into heavy consideration when planning construction.

The facility will serve as a practice arena for the Blue Mountain Community College rodeo team as well as space for the college’s unmanned aircraft system program, and it could hold community and regional events, Sisneros said. The college anticipates the winter months will be FARM II’s peak time and is planning on partnering with the Pendleton Convention Center to court outside events.

Construction of such a project wouldn’t have been possible without partners, Sisneros said, explaining the whole process from start to finish has been streamlined through strong communication and the combined efforts of BMCC, the city of Pendleton and the Round-Up Association.

“We’ll be working closely together going forward once it opens,” he said. “It’s very much a community space.”