Karina Gonzalez
A blemish on the Promenade Mall now for well-nigh two years, the former bookstore is finally receiving some much-needed attention in the form of a $2,380,000 makeover.
The renovations, scheduled for completion in December, will transform the abandoned bookstore into Pierce College’s new and more versatile Campus Center. The 11,000-square-foot structure, which is located just east of the Library, will feature a meeting hall, staff offices and considerable space for storage.
Complete with adjacent kitchen to accommodate guests, the meeting hall will seat 150 and according to Pierce President Robert Garber, will not suffer the same curse as the current Campus Center-floor-to-ceiling windows.
Such consideration, he explained, will enable the new location to host film events and projection presentations.
Also calling the new Campus Center home, come December, will be the Associated Students Organization (ASO), which has convened in a trailer for the past 15 years or so, said Garber. In the new building, ASO will have offices and a meeting room, as well as its own storage space.
The project, funded by Propositions A and AA, is currently in its first phase of construction-gutting out the asbestos-laden viscera of the old structure.
In addition to saving staff and students from the onset of cancer, plans for a seismic retrofit of the building ought to preserve them in the event of an earthquake. Furthermore, all 17 rooms of the building are to be fully handicap-accessible.
“We’re stripping everything to the bone,” explained Isabella Golovaty, Senior Project Manager at Swinerton Management & Consulting.
“We’re only leaving the frames. Everything else is brand new.”
Keeping consistent with the Spanish theme west of the Mall, she added, the outward-facing surfaces of the wooden structure will be plaster and Spanish tiles will adorn the roof.
“This project is making history. Fourteen general contractors came to bid [on the contract]. You usually have two or three or four,” said Golovaty.
One of those 14 bids, she continued, was not accepted because it arrived exactly one minute after deadline.
Although construction only started last month, event reservations are already being booked.
The new meeting hall will serve as host to the board of trustees, which visits Pierce once a year.
What will become of the current Campus Center is not set in stone, said President Garber.
Once it’s cleared out, he continued, the building may become the new home of the Information Technology department, which is responsible for maintaining computer data and the mainframe at Pierce.
One thing is certain, however. For the time being, the old Campus Center will remain standing due to cuts in funding.
The new campus center will feature conference rooms and storage areas in addition to the meeting hall. (Adam Taylor, Gil Riego, Swinerton Construction and Management Company)
Rodney Norris, building inspector with the Los Angeles Community College District, reviews renovation plans Friday that will turn the old Pierce College Bookstore into the new Student Center building. The building, which has sat empty, is undergoing a $2,380,000 makeover. ()