EUGENE (AP) - With or without a new basketball arena, the construction boom continues on the University of Oregon campus.

At least three more projects will break ground this year, and several others should be ready to go by next year. The new buildings will add to a 15-year growth spurt that has seen the campus add 1 million square feet at a cost of $405 million.

The next project to get under way is the Many Nations Longhouse, a $1.2 million cultural center and gathering place for American Indian students and community members. Ground-breaking is scheduled for Tuesday and construction should be complete by fall.

"I can't describe to you how good it feels to finally know that things are really going to start," said Jason Younker, a Coquille tribal member and anthropology instructor who remembers when former UO President Myles Brand committed to the project 10 years ago.

The longhouse replaces an old Quonset hut that had been in use since the 1960s. It is being built at the same site, which is behind the Knight Law Center.

Other upcoming projects include a $27 million residence hall that will open in fall 2006 and the $850,000 Heart of Campus outdoor plaza. The 396-bed residence hall will be built as two U-shaped, four-story buildings on a site where tennis and basketball courts are now located.

The project marks the first new residence hall on the UO campus since 1962.

Plans to build a luxury basketball arena are on indefinite hold because the project was too expensive, but other projects are in the works.

Next will be an 11,000-square-foot expansion and renovation of the Student Health and Counseling Center, expected to get under way in summer 2005. After that, projects that will modernize and expand the College of Education, School of Music and University Theatre have completed planning and are seeking additional private and state funds.

All of this comes on top of the recently completed $40 million Lillis Hall addition to the Lundquist College of Business and soon-to-be-completed $12.7 million expansion of the Museum of Art and $3.2 million East Campus Children's Center.

Toss in recent projects such as the Knight Law Center and Student Recreation Center and it amounts to a 15-year race to upgrade aging buildings and add new space ahead of an enrollment bulge that has pushed student numbers to 20,033, a 19 percent increase over the past five years.

Of the $405 million spent on buildings over the last 15 years, private donations provided $162 million, or 40 percent of the bill. Another $94 million came from fee-based bonds, which are repaid by building users or with student fees.