Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Construction Begins on New Campus for California Community College

  • By Matt Jones
  • 11/16/23

The design-build team of Blach Construction, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, and Gensler recently began construction on a brand-new campus for the Gavilan Joint Community College District in Hollister, Calif., according to a news release. Gavilan was originally founded in Hollister in 1919.

“Our new Gavilan College San Benito County campus will greatly improve access to higher education in Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Tres Pinos and other rural county areas,” said Gavilan Superintendent Pedro Avila. “Approximately 2,000 of our currently enrolled students live in Hollister and other San Benito County areas. This decades long-awaited campus fulfills our vision of expanding academic opportunities to these communities to support upward mobility.”

The first phase of construction consists of a 34,000-square-foot campus core that will include “a lobby and welcome center, classrooms, science and computer labs, learning resource and testing centers, a café, community room, as well as administrative and support spaces.” The building will also include an intentional exterior design that will blend it into its rural setting. The space also boasts a future-ready design that can accommodate current and future technology and furniture needs.

Phase 1 also includes a hardscape entry plaza, outdoor learning spaces, landscaping, and parking amenities. The project will cost $60 million, and funding comes from Measure X, which was passed by San Benito and Santa Clara County voters in 2018. Completion is scheduled for fall 2024, according to the news release.

“This is a milestone project to be sure. Not every day do we have an opportunity to enhance a deserving community with an entirely new, much-desired community college campus, let alone partner with two renowned education designers and an inclusive client to do it,” said Blach Construction project director Brad Fannin. “We are thrilled to be leveraging our extensive design-build expertise, integrating seamlessly with our partners to ensure the Gavilan San Benito County Campus project remains on schedule, within budget and when complete, exceeds the higher education needs of students in and around the greater Hollister area.”

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • school building with glowing circuit board patterns

    AI Is Coming to Schools — But Most School Buildings Still Run on Institutional Memory

    As school districts race to introduce AI into classrooms, administration, and curriculum planning, another conversation is happening behind the scenes: How prepared are school facilities themselves for the operational demands AI will create?

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Minnesota District Converts Middle School into Community Hub

    White Bear Lake Area Schools in White Bear Lake, Minn., recently announced the end of a major renovation project that converted a former middle school into a new centralized district and community hub, according to a news release.