Demolition kicks off Phase 1 of the Southwestern College master plan, $28M IT data center and $99 classroom complex in the works
After more than six years of planning, a $1.9 million demolition of the 300 buildings on the southeast corner of the campus is underway, kicking up dust and kicking off the next stage of renewal at SC.
For most of October a roaring team of backhoes and Bobcats pummeled and pushed the Mayanesque walls of the old math and science buildings into piles of concrete rubble and tangled rebar.
When the gritty cloud of dust settles, a $28 million central I.T. Data Center and a $99 million classroom complex will rise in its place.
Construction bond Program Manager Mark Claussen said the old buildings are ready for an overhaul.
“It was a 1965 campus for the most part,” he said. “There were some buildings done in the 1970s. It’s time. It’s about the time you do these things and the community agreed, providing a bond to do this work.”
Taxpayer-backed bond measure Proposition Z raised $400 million in 2016 to further phase one of the SC Facilities Master Plan. It is a campus renewal project “That brings together the voices of college and community stakeholders,” according to a message from SC President Dr. Kindred Murillo.
Prop Z funding also pays for the new $61 million performing arts center, $8.1 million campus police building and $97 million student union complex.
While there is a spreadsheet showing that construction on the new I.T. building is targeted to begin in 2020, and a map showing approximately where all the new buildings will go, there are still no drawings for the future construction.
Claussen said planners will identify the needs for the I.T. building by the end of the year. Architects and designers will then put together a rendering. He said every project in Phase One is dependent upon another.
“It’s kind of a daisy chain of construction and demolition,” he said. “We’re not building additional space, so you build that building, you demo this (one). We’ll put in instructional building number one and that will house other people from other buildings on this campus and it follows another daisy chain.”
Acting Director of Facilities and Planning Aurora Ayala said there have been a few complaints about the dust from the demolition project, but she said the college is working hard to mitigate airborne particles.
“We actually have an environmental company on site monitoring our dust control and if you pass by (the demolition site) you’ll see we water down, so we do our due diligence,” she said. “Because we’re an operating campus, it’s not like it’s a full-on construction site. We’re very conscious of our students. So, it’s not been a problem that anyone is going home sick or anything. They’re spraying down as the demolition’s being done.”
Ayala said there has only been one complaint about the noise from the heavy machinery pounding the concrete.
Andrew Rempt is the Learning Assistance Services Coordinator and works in the Academic Success Center, right next to the demolition site. He said noise is not especially bad inside the tutoring center, but the building shakes when crews break up the concrete chunks to be hauled away.
“Today we’ve had shaking,” he said. “That’s always fun.”
Rempt said the Academic Success Center had to be closed for two Fridays at the end of September because the workmen were doing heavy demolition, creating noise and a lot of dust. Otherwise, he has only heard of a couple of complaints about headaches from the tutoring staff.
Rempt admitted that his problem with the project is more about nostalgia for the venerable concrete halls.
“It’s just (that) the ongoing construction is kind of destabilizing, in some ways,” he said. “I’ve been here for 25 years, so it’s really depressing to see the areas where I spent my entire professional life just sort of wrecked. I understand great things are going to happen afterward, but in the meantime, it’s kind of sad.”
Ayala is sympathetic, she said, but looking at the end game.
“When you think of construction and all that can go wrong, everything’s going well, especially the 300 (buildings),” she said. “Everything is going pretty smoothly and I’m excited that we’re almost done because it gets you to the next stage.”
Governing Board President Roberto Alcantar agreed.
“People are very excited to hear about the progress that we’ve made at the college and seeing our plans moving forward,” he said. “It’s really nice to see that we’re building the college that our students deserve, which is important, because our communities have a history of being neglected, being last in line to get resources.”
