IMPERIAL — As students return to Imperial Valley College for fall classes on August 15 they may notice a mix of newly renovated buildings and some under construction at the start of the new school year. The renovations and construction projects are all part of Imperial Valley College’s plan to update and beautify its campus, IVC administration said.

The college’s plan is to renovate and update about 14 buildings – lumped together in 7 different construction projects – between 2022 and 2026 in order to grow classroom sizes and re-vamp older classroom buildings with technological upgrades, administration said.

“We do have a 2030 facilities master plan that we’re trying to get accomplished … to better serve the students and our community, and we’re trying to march down that road to get everything done,” said IVC Superintendent and President Dr. Lennor Johnson.

Johnson said it’s important that IVC “keeps up with it” in order to save costs in the long run on prolonged or aged facilities issues. “A lot of the space was older, 20 to 30 years old, and now we’re basically putting in new stuff. We wouldn’t want to have our air conditioning go out and have to move students out of the classrooms to other buildings; that’s what we don’t want,” he said.

“There's just so many little projects that we want to do to make the students' journey a little bit more seamless," he said. "As we build out we’re going to make sure the (classroom) capacity grows with it.”

IVC previously completed construction on and opened their Disability Support Program & Services building (DSP&S) in March 2022, and also recently completed modernizing their Spencer Library Media Center in June, and air conditioning replacements in the college Gymnasium in July, Johnson said.

Johnson said the library’s new look is “more of an open concept, with more seating, where students can just go in and study together,” with physical books less visible but available for checkout by students in person or online.

“That space is really dedicated for students, studying, and doing projects … and of course we have a very beautiful mural that really speaks to what we do in our community,” he said.

Johnson said the College Center, or 600 building, has also been completed for students to be able to dine in. The kitchen has been renovated, new furniture has been installed, and a new food service operator is “ready to go,” according to an IVC New Construction and Capital Improvements Report.

Johnson said the College Center has almost doubled in size, and one of the main new upgrades – a sliding partition wall – will eliminate the need for students to vacate the Center when used for special events or other uses by the college. Johnson said the College Center is now big enough to have one side for dining and the other for multipurpose use with the partition wall.

Elizabeth Espinoza, IVC’s Communications and Governmental Relations Officer, said students will be able to use the new College Center on August 15 but its grand opening will be held on August 24.

With DSP&S, the Spencer Library, College Center and upgraded air conditioning in the Gymnasium renovations mostly completed, the ongoing and upcoming renovation and upgrades/construction projects have been compiled by the college as follows: The 2100 Health Sciences (also known as the Nursing) Building; renovations on classroom buildings 200, 300, and 800; HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) replacements in buildings 10, 100, and 600; an added restroom for Athletics and added lighting to the west side of campus, along with a new 4G/5G BorderLink antennae; and renovations to the tennis courts.

Javier Luna, IVC’s Director of Facilities Planning and Construction, said there are also proposed upgrades to the Auto Technology and Laboratories Building, which would replace the current 1100, 1200 and 1300 buildings. Luna said the proposed Auto Technology and Laboratories Building would house “Auto-Tech, Diesel, Engineering” and possibly some “Arts and Humanities” courses.

With the exception to proposed Auto-Tech and Labs, these upgrades are funded separately from the bond IVC is seeking from taxpayers on the November ballot to fund a Public Safety Training Center to develop a fire, police, health, and emergency responder training center and prepare facilities for lithium training programs.

The total costs for the improvements, according to the New Construction Report, are as follows: over $3 million for the 2100 (“Nursing”) building; $18.5+ million for the 200, 300, and 800 classrooms buildings renovations; $3.85 million for the College Center expansion, $1.8 million for HVAC replacements in buildings 10, 100 and 600; $5.1 million for the new Athletics restroom, west side lighting and BorderLink antennae; and $2.51 million for the tennis courts.

The proposed AutoShop and Labs Building renovation has a price tag of over $37 million, according to the report.

Johnson said the HVAC upgrades in buildings 10, 100 and 600 are paid in full by HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief) funds by the U.S. Department of Education. He said the college also utilized Measure J funds and aid given during the pandemic for these projects.

“We started [improvements] with the DSP&S and the Nursing building in tandem … in 2018,” Johnson said. Construction on the 2100 building broke ground approximately in September 2021.

The Health Sciences Building upgrades will include “more space, modernization, new technology, you name it,” he said. “We tried to really make sure it’s with the times.”

Luna said the vast and varied technological improvements within the 2100 building are being made available by separate funding from the modernization construction.

The 2100 Health Sciences Building’s technological renovations will include high-flex monitors, cameras throughout classrooms and labs to allow for both more focused and recorded views of demonstrations, and mock-hospital practice labs complete with high-tech dummy ‘patients’ in beds, said Dr. David Ortiz, Interim Associate Dean of Nursing and Allied Health.

The grand opening for the Health Sciences 2100 Building is scheduled for September 21, Espinoza said.

The renovations on the 200 Building are set to be complete by September 30, according to report, with a grand opening scheduled for October 2022.

The 300 Building has already been demolished, and is scheduled to be completed by April 30, 2023.

Both projects are “under budget and on time,” according to the report.

Johnson said the IVC Board of Trustees recently voted for the go-ahead on the proposed Auto Technology and Labs Building. He said the new building will include “a big maker space” and “new bays for the auto and diesel, so we’re really excited about that.”

Johnson said all the HVAC replacement projects are slated to be completed by Spring 2023.

He said some projects – like the tennis courts, Athletics restrooms and lighting – are still awaiting approval at the state level.

Ortiz said seeing the students’ faces when they walk in the new buildings will be well worth the wait.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

Roman has worked for multiple local news and non-profit orgs including IV Press and VW Mag, IVROP, St. JP2 Radio and is also with The Southern Cross. An El Centro native, he graduated from Marywood U in Scranton, Pennsylvania. rflores@thedesertreview.com

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