Quick answer: If you are an EvCC student in cosmetology or theater, the new Baker Hall is still on track for winter quarter 2028. The building is about 10,000 square feet smaller than the original plan, but the cosmetology working salon and the 250-seat theater both survived the redesign. Until the new building opens, cosmetology and theater programs continue in their current arrangements. The 1962 Baker Hall has not housed students in roughly two years, so day-to-day class life is not changing in 2026 because of the redesign — but the move-in date you should plan around is winter 2028.

For Everett Community College Students: What the Baker Hall Redesign Means for Cosmetology, Theater, and Your 2026-2028 Plans

If you are at EvCC right now, or thinking about enrolling for fall 2026, or about to apply to the cosmetology or theater programs, the Baker Hall news matters in a specific way for you. The replacement building got smaller. The 2028 opening is still on. Your programs still get the spaces they were promised. But the way the campus looks between now and winter 2028 — and the building you eventually move into — has changed.

This is the student-and-prospective-student guide to what the redesign means and what to plan around.

Your Programs Are Safe

The redesign cut roughly 10,000 square feet from the original 32,000-square-foot Baker Hall plan. What got preserved through the cuts:

The cosmetology wing. A working salon with the plumbing, ventilation, and station layout cosmetology training requires. Classrooms. Meeting spaces. Department offices. None of that came out of the design.

The 250-seat theater. A real performance space with dressing rooms, a set-construction shop, costume storage, and the support classrooms a theater program needs. The 250-seat figure stayed.

What was cut was slack — the circulation space, the future-flex rooms, the breathing room around the core program functions. As a student, you will probably not notice that on day one in 2028. You will notice it five or ten years later if the program grows beyond what the smaller building can hold. That is a future-EvCC problem, not a current-student problem.

What’s Happening Until Winter 2028

The 1962 Baker Hall has not housed students in roughly two years. That means whatever interim arrangement your program is in right now is the arrangement that continues through 2026 and most of 2027. If you are in cosmetology, you are using the current cosmetology training facilities EvCC arranged when the old Baker Hall was vacated. If you are in theater, the same applies.

The redesign does not change those interim arrangements. It just delays demolition of the old building so the construction window aligns with the revised drawings. Demolition is now timed against the new construction schedule, not happening on the original 2025 calendar.

What Winter 2028 Looks Like

If you are a current EvCC cosmetology or theater student on a two-year track, winter 2028 may be after your graduation. If you are on a longer track or you transfer in for fall 2026 or fall 2027, you may be the first cohort to take classes in the new Baker Hall. That cohort gets:

A modern cosmetology salon with proper plumbing, ventilation, and station infrastructure
A 250-seat theater with proper backstage, fly space, dressing rooms, and set-construction support
Classrooms designed around current teaching models, not 1962 teaching models
A building meeting current seismic, accessibility, and mechanical standards

Those are real upgrades over what either program could ever deliver inside a 64-year-old building.

What the Redesign Means If You’re Choosing EvCC

If you are deciding whether to enroll at EvCC for cosmetology or theater specifically because of Baker Hall:

The 2028 opening is on the table but not guaranteed. Public construction projects can slip. A six-month or one-year slip would not be unusual; a multi-year slip would be unusual but not impossible. Plan around winter 2028 with the understanding that fall 2028 is also possible.

The program quality does not depend on the building. EvCC’s cosmetology and theater programs have been running through the entire Baker Hall transition. The quality of instruction is not waiting for 2028. If you start in fall 2026, you will get the program — just not in the new building.

The smaller redesign is still a real upgrade. A 22,000-square-foot purpose-built building with a working salon and a 250-seat theater is meaningfully better than what the 1962 Baker Hall could have offered even after a renovation. The cuts removed slack, not core function.

What to Watch For

If you want to track the project’s progress as a student, the milestones to look for:

Construction documents revised and re-permitted (2026)
Cornerstone Construction trade-package rebids (2026)
Demolition of the 1962 Baker Hall
Foundation and shell work (2027)
Interior fit-out and inspections (late 2027)
Move-in and program opening (winter quarter 2028)

EvCC’s facilities communications and the school’s board minutes are the most reliable sources for milestone updates as they happen.

The Practical Takeaway

If you are a cosmetology or theater student, the redesign is, on balance, a good outcome. The alternative — a project killed for budget — would have meant no new Baker Hall at all. The alternative — a supplemental appropriation request — would have meant a 12-18 month delay while Olympia worked through the request, with no certainty of approval. Cutting scope to keep the 2028 opening preserves the deliverable.

The deliverable is what you actually need: a working salon for cosmetology training, a real theater for theater performance and production training, and modern classrooms for the support coursework. That is what arrives in winter 2028. Just slightly smaller than the original drawings showed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Baker Hall redesign change EvCC’s cosmetology program?

No. The cosmetology wing, including the working salon, was preserved through the redesign. The program continues as currently arranged through 2027 and moves into the new building in winter quarter 2028.

Is EvCC’s theater program still getting a 250-seat theater?

Yes. The 250-seat theater, dressing rooms, set-construction shop, and costume storage all survived the redesign.

When does the new Baker Hall open for classes?

Winter quarter 2028 is the current target. Demolition of the 1962 Baker Hall has been aligned with the revised construction window.

What is happening to my program until winter 2028?

The 1962 Baker Hall has not housed students for roughly two years, so program arrangements that have been in place since the building was vacated continue through the construction window. The redesign does not change those interim arrangements.

Is the new Baker Hall smaller because EvCC is shrinking the program?

No. The 10,000-square-foot reduction came from circulation space, flex space, and support functions — not from program-critical spaces. The cosmetology salon, the 250-seat theater, and the supporting classrooms were preserved at full scope.

Could the 2028 opening still slip?

Yes. Public construction projects can hit permit, supply, or labor delays. A short slip is not unusual; a multi-year slip would be unusual. Students should plan around winter 2028 with awareness that fall 2028 is possible.

Will the new building be more accessible than the 1962 Baker Hall?

Yes. New campus construction in Washington must meet current ADA and accessibility standards. The 1962 building was designed before those standards existed and would have required near-complete reconstruction to comply.

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