Calif. Community College Breaks Ground on STEM Education Facility

The Mt. San Jacinto Community College District recently broke ground on a new STEM Education building for its San Jacinto Campus in San Jacinto, Calif. The facility is set to stand three stories and cover 57,374 square feet, and it’s scheduled for completion by fall 2023. The college is partnering with builders C. W. Driver Companies and design firm LPA Architects on the project, which is estimated to cost about $37 million, according to a news release.

The new building will centralize the campus’ expanding STEM departments—including biology, physical science and math—which are currently spread across several buildings across multiple campuses. It’s set to include science labs and lecture rooms, general classrooms, labs for math and general studies, and faculty offices.

MSJCC STEM Technology Building
Photo Credit: LPA Architects

“Our goal at MSJC is to provide our students with the best possible education to prepare them for their future endeavors,” said Todd Franco, Dean of Facilities Planning, District Construction & Support Services at Mt. San Jacinto Community College. “This new centralized hub for our math and science departments will allow our teams to collaborate in a permanent space that will contribute greatly to the STEM education and research at MSJC.”

C .W. Driver previously completed construction of the Mt. San Jacinto College Temecula Valley Campus in 2021. MSJC encompasses 116 community colleges across California and serves students within a 1,700-square-mile range from the San Gorgonio Pass to Temecula.

“C.W. Driver Companies is proud to continue our partnership with Mt. San Jacinto College to provide their students with a best-in-class campus,” said David Amundson, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies. “It was an honor to be able to leverage our decades of experience in higher education to provide students and faculty with a centralized, permanent facility to further their research and learning.”

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.

  • Washington State University Debuts New Engineering Hall

    Washington State University recently celebrated a dedication ceremony for the new Schweitzer Engineering Hall on its Pullman campus in Pullman, Wash., according to university news. The facility measures 66,288 square feet, and its completion marks the first milestone in a larger university effort to modernize the engineering and design district.

  • California Middle School Breaks Ground on Major Renovation Project

    The Hillsborough City School District (HCSD) in Hillsborough, Calif., recently began construction on new multipurpose and administration facilities for Crocker Middle School, according to a news release.

  • R.I. District Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for New Elementary School

    Cranston Public Schools in Cranston, R.I., recently announced the completion of Gladstone Elementary School, according to a news release. The 100,000-square-foot facility serves as a replacement for the 1950s-era former building, and it consolidates the student, faculty, and staff populations of Gladstone and Arlington Elementary Schools.