Demolitions could start as early as summer 2014

San Jose City College is planning on building a new, state-of-the-art campus, with some projects already in progress and more demolitions scheduled during the academic year.

There will be a few new major buildings: the main gymnasium, a media arts center, a fitness center and an aquatics facility. The school is also planning on building a general education building and a vocational technology building. Other buildings, like the main gymnasium, will be renovated.

“The Physical Education Building is ready to go and is in the process of being built and should be scheduled to be worked on next,” said Seher Awan, the business services supervisor for San Jose City College.

Currently the construction is focused on the Physical Education Building, which will go in front of the old gym near the softball field. According to the proposed plan, “the new complex would support a number of athletic needs.”

“We are going to have new locker rooms, a weight training room, and a new fitness room,” Awan said. It will also include more classrooms and offices “for teachers so they can have areas for meetings” and the department can “provide openness and accessibility for students.”

There was the possibility of a swimming pool being added to the building, but Awan said the pool was costing too much.

“The Media Arts Center will cost around $21 million to complete,” Awan said, and will be at the site of the current 300 buildings.

The estimated time for the start of the demolition is summer 2014, and the building is estimated to be finished around 2015, depending on how construction goes.

The center will house several departments, including: journalism, art, theater, some vocational departments, all the social sciences, drama, multimedia, and sociology.

Awan said “the theater and multimedia department will all be state-of-the-art and up-to-date.”

Awan said the school is being reconstructed because “our population is growing and we need to bring new technology and innovation to the college and accommodate the capacity of the students. It also encourages the students when they are working in new facilities.”

“The new construction is going to be good for the students and the campus,” Awan said. There will be more meeting areas and it will open up the campus and make things more accessible.

“The structures on campus look like they are in good shape but they are not,” Awan said. “As far as you can see the building looks OK but they are really not. The cost to improve the wiring, plumbing – fix all the problems – isn’t worth it.”

She also said the plan is to replace outdated facilities with modern, state-of-the-art technology and get the inside of the new buildings fully up-to-date.

“Bond money is meant to be spent toward brick and mortar,” Awan said.

Awan said we are building new buildings rather than remodeling them because “taxpayers like to see their bond money spent to build our college into a better college rather than doing upgrades.”

Awan added that bond money comes from the taxpayers and hopefully it will only take one more bond to finish the school, depending on the amount of the bond.

It is also more cost-effective for the school to start from scratch because it often doesn’t cost as much.

“There are some renovations that we are doing on campus like new floors, new roof and paint, but the primary use of the bond money is to build new buildings and fulfill the needs of the students,” Awan said.

Included in the construction is a road that will go through the school from Bascom Avenue to Leigh Avenue.