Construction will continue into the summer

Noeele Arias / Roundup

If Pierce College were a woman, she would be Heidi Montag from the hit television show, The Hills. So many drastic changes will leave the campus almost unrecognizable, but in a good way (sorry Heidi).

Thanks to millions of dollars in bonds granted to the school, the entire campus is getting a whole new look complete with additions such as the Center for the Sciences as well as fixing up what is already built such as the Pierce College Mall.

“The entire project will take several years to complete,” said David Tsao of Swinerton Incorporated, the company in charge of all the construction being done to the college.

Many students and staff have been slightly inconvenienced with having to deal with the mess of construction such as giant steamrollers occasionally taking up three or four parking spots in Victory Parking Lot 7 or using cramped detours set in place by chain-linked fences along the Mall when halls are jam-packed with students, but once all the dust has settled, Pierce College will be a new and beautiful, state-of-the-art campus.

The Center for the Sciences, which is due to be completed in time for the Fall 2010 semester, will feature 100,000 square feet of new classrooms and laboratories within its two stories providing the latest technology and safety features for Pierce College science students and teachers. Located along Olympic Drive and Mason Avenue, this project alone costs roughly $60 million.

According to Tsao, the Center for the Sciences will also include a planetarium and a full lab for the veterinary technology program allowing pre-vet students the opportunity to operate similar to an actual veterinary hospital.

Most people at Pierce have dealt with the Mall construction on a daily basis. Tsao and his team anticipated this so they divided the project into two phases

“We didn’t want to have to shut the entire mall down all at once,” said Tsao, “so it was split in half.”

Phase one started from Brahma Drive and ended just past the Library Media Center. New pavement was put in along the mall as well as landscaping, new light fixtures, benches and tables and ramps for the disabled that meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

Phase one was completed this semester and phase two is already underway remodeling the remaining portion of the Mall all the way to Olympic Drive and Victory Parking Lot 7. The Mall project costs about $11.4 million and is also expected to be completed before the Fall 2010 semester.

Aside from these two projects, an $11 million Child Development Center is being built across from the Center for the Sciences. There will be a dedication ceremony on June 3 to celebrate the center’s completion and grand opening.

Other projects for the Pierce College campus include demolishing the current cafeteria to build a new Library Learning Resource Center and putting a Digital Arts and Media building where the library stands today as well as well as constructing a pristine Green Technologies building on campus and renovation to the  Horticulture Greenhouse area.

English major, Sarah White, believed that the priorities of the remodeling of Pierce College weren’t particularly in the right order.

“If they want to modify the facilities, they should’ve started with the bathrooms,” she said in a previous interview.

Students and faculty who share White’s opinion will be happy to know that renovations to all existing buildings on campus include the restrooms.

According to Tsao, the restrooms at Pierce are old and outdated, not meeting the ADA guidelines. So as the bathrooms are remodeled to be more handicap accessible they will also be more water efficient using items such as waterless urinal fixtures while getting a chic new look.

“There are so many buildings on campus,” said Tsao describing the length of time that will be needed to complete the renovations, “it should be done by 2012.”

For an updated map of the campus visit http://www.piercecollege.edu/schedules/mapcampus.pdf and for information on ADA guidelines visit http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm.

narias.roundupnews@gmail.com

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