LACCD Holds Groundbreaking for $40M Student Services Building

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for the new $40-million student services building at Los Angeles Mission College. The event, which was livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook on Thursday, April 15, was the first in-person event for LACCD since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Attendees included members of the LACCD Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the Los Angeles Mission College community, and other district officials. Featured speakers included LACCD Board President Steven F. Veres, LACCD Chancellor Francisco C. Rodriguez, Ph.D., and Mission College President Monte E. Perez.

The new Student Services & Administration Building will consist of three stories and cover 59,000 square feet. It will house student services like admissions, financial aid, and other administrative offices. The building was designed and placed to serve as a gateway to the campus, both physically and metaphorically. It will follow LEED Gold technology standards and include sustainability efforts like drought-tolerant landscaping, green-roof technology to minimize use of HVAC systems, and 66 kWh of solar panels.

Los Angeles Mission College is one of nine schools included in the LACCD system. The construction is part of the district’s “BuildLACCD” initiative, a $9.6 billion capital improvement plan that has seen more than 700 projects completed to date. The Student Services & Administration Building is also the first project of the initiative to be funded entirely from the $3.3 billion in “Measure CC” bond funds that voters approved in 2016.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Schools In Focus: Talking Campus Security with Mitch McKinley

    Furnishing the Future: Adaptive Solutions for Modern Learning Spaces

    On this episode of Schools in Focus, we'll talk about the role that classroom furniture plays in creating adaptive, flexible learning spaces. Our guest is Wesley Edmonds, the Director of Workplace, Adaptive Solutions at OFS.

  • Pangram Secures Funding for AI Detection Technology

    Pangram, which provides technology that detects AI-generated text, recently announced that it has secured nearly $4 million in pre-seed and seed funding, according to a news release. The most recent round of investments, totaling $2.7 million, come on top of the pre-existing seed fund of $1.25 million.

  • Key Considerations for Office-to-Higher-Education Facility Conversions

    Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, office-to-alternative-use conversions have become a recurring subject of urban development discourse. Office utilization rates across major U.S. cities remain below 50%, with vacancy rates exceeding 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York. Higher education facilities present programmatic and spatial use cases that align readily with the typical characteristics of commercial office buildings.

  • Design Firm Populous Acquires Fentress Architects

    Design firm Populous, which specializes in sports and entertainment venues, recently announced its acquisition of Fentress Architects, based in Denver, Colo., according to a news release. Fentress’ primary focus is aviation projects and public buildings like museums, convention centers, and government facilities

Digital Edition