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Calif. Community College System Sees New Campus Completion

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/28/21

The California-based building company C.W. Driver Companies announced this week that construction is complete on the Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) Temecula Valley Campus in Temecula, Calif. The 350,000-square-foot campus is the first permanent institution of higher education in the city. It was built with the intention of expanding MSJC’s reach to residents of Southwest Riverside County and surrounding areas.

The $60-million facility came to be through a retrofit and renovation of two separate five-story office buildings. The 27-acre campus features amenities like a welcome center, a veterans resource center, health center, dining hall, bookstore, career center, and support services—as well as 22 classrooms, six science lab spaces, and five computer labs. It also contains faculty office space, conference rooms, collaborative workspaces, and group study areas.

Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) Temecula Valley Campus

“The team at C.W. Driver Companies was proud to partner with Mt. San Jacinto College to develop a convenient, accessible and quality educational facility for local students,” said C.W. Driver Companies project executive Dave Amundson. “By leveraging decades of experience in higher education and tenant improvement construction, we were able to successfully execute a seismic retrofit and complete upgrade, resulting in a safe and modern environment for students to learn and pursue their passions.”

MJSC is one of 116 community colleges in the state of California. The new Temecula Valley Campus will help fill the gap of classroom space in its district. MJSC purchased the two office buildings from Abbott Laboratories in 2018 for $56 million. Construction funding came from Measure AA, a $295-million bond measure, approved by voters in 2015.

“The ambitious undertaking of repurposing a multilevel commercial space for educational needs was both cost-effective and time-efficient thanks to the team at C.W. Driver Companies,” said Beth Gomez, vice president of business services at Mt. San Jacinto College. “The new campus and innovative design enables Mt. San Jacinto College to further our mission of transforming learners, communities and lives by expanding our footprint and accommodating more faculty and students.”

Construction of the Temecula Valley Campus is part of a five-year plan across the district that also involves projects at MSJC’s San Jacinto, Menifee Valley and San Gorgonio Pass campuses. C.W. Driver Companies will serve as the construction manager for the San Jacinto Campus’s STEM Science and Technology Building and Building 200 Renovation and Addition projects.

“With the expertise of C.W. Driver Companies, we have realized our vision to serve the residents of Temecula and the surrounding communities by establishing a permanent residence for MSJC in Temecula Valley,” said Dr. Roger Schultz, superintendent and president of MSJC. “This state-of-the-art facility will become the launching point for generations of local students who aspire for college and career success.”

The project’s architect of record was 19six Architects.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

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