Pierce College is upping its investment into construction of the Childhood Development Center, as well as the renovation of various athletics facilities and the addition of 17 temporary classrooms to the Village.
The money for the increase was saved from government bonds for previous projects and the interest earned off of that extra money.
The Pierce College Council on Nov. 29 unanimously approved the usage of this money for the three projects.
Construction of the Childhood Development Center, which started in June 2005 but was halted three months later due to high costs, will give the center a permanent building, as opposed to temporary classrooms.
Kathleen Reiter-Vasquez, director of the Childhood Development Center, eagerly anticipates the project’s completion.
“We’re finally going to be out of the temporary buildings,” Reiter-Vasquez said. “The Childhood Development Center will have a home.”
While Pierce is paying the majority of the project cost with an $8,023,720 investment, the state is contributing $2,451,000, for a total of $10,474,720.
The athletics facilities will be seeing the addition of a new pool, as well as some basic maintenance.
Bob Lofrano, athletics director, is content with the renovations, but would have rather seen the funds used for more useful additions. “In a way it’s good, but in another way it’s disappointing, because we didn’t really add to the facilities or make major upgrades,” Lofrano stated. “It’s really patch and paint.”
Lofrano said that some of the additions he would like to see to the athletics department include a turf football field, a restroom facility on the baseball field and a combination of the softball and baseball fields into a baseball-softball complex. The total cost of the project will be $22,305,453, with Pierce contributing $13,272,543 and the state paying $9,033,000.
To allow for further construction and renovation of campus classrooms and offices, 17 temporary classrooms will be added to the Village to relocate affected classes. The first stage of the renovation will include all the buildings south of the mall, which include faculty offices behind the bookstore and the art and music buildings.
The second stage will take two phases to complete, with the first phase including the chemistry, life science and physics buildings and the second phase including nearly every other building on campus.
The project, which is expected to cost around $2 million, will include renovation of bathrooms and floors, in addition to painting and other technology-related aspects of the classrooms such as the addition of projectors and Internet access.
Temporary classrooms are only able to exist for two years by law, but the prospected schedule should have the remodeling complete in six months.
Robert Garber, president of Pierce College, is happy with the college’s current financial position.
“It’s really very satisfying to be in a position where we’ve been able to put together a substantial amount of money to go forward and continue with these very important projects,” explained Garber. “Part of doing our job as a college is to serve the community.”