IVC trustees approve new high-tech automotive building
Imperial Valley College trustees this month approved construction of a brand new high-tech Automotive Technology, Arts, and Engineering education complex that will replace the existing 60-year-old classrooms that have housed automotive training since the campus opened on Aten Road in 1962.
According to Cesar Vega, IVC’s vice president of administrative services, the approximate cost for this project is $30 million. The project will nearly complete expenditures authorized by Measure J, the $80 million general obligation bond measure adopted by local voters in 2010.
With only $2.9 million remaining in the Measure J authorization after funding the new automotive complex, “We are finally there,” Vega said.
The new 30,000 square-foot building will be built on the northwest side of the campus in the same general location where the current auto technology classrooms are located. Two current buildings, a diesel laboratory and the art and humanities building will be removed when construction begins.
The current auto technology classroom building as well as a tool building will remain in operation until the new complex opens.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2023 and the building is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025.
According to a construction timeline outlined by Vega to trustees at their March 16 meeting, plans will be submitted to the Division of the State Architect’s office in San Diego for review by July 30, 2022, and a contractor will be selected by Aug. 30, 2023. Actual construction will tentatively begin in September 2023.
Efrain Silva, dean of workforce and economic development, said the new facility will allow IVC to expand the number of students in automotive and diesel programs. The new building will allow the college to increase class capacity there from its cur
rentrent 22 students per classroom
Additionally, IVC is launching a new industrial program this fall that focuses on diesel technology, hydraulics and pneumatics “in response to identified needs of local farmers,” Silva said.
Noting that every automotive class was at capacity this spring, Silva said, “There is a very large demand for auto and diesel technicians in the county and this will help us serve that need.” IVC students who complete that program become eligible to take the nationally recognized Automotive Service Excellence exams that virtually is the required entry point to be hired in automotive repair businesses. IVC also has partnered with an Automotive Continuing Education program sponsored by Ford Motor Company that allows students to test for a certification by Ford.
The auto technology training program is designed in a fast-track model that allows students to complete programs in a short timeframe.
Modernized auto technology facilities were listed as a major priority in the Measure J campaign, along with construction of new career education training labs and classrooms. More than 47,000 square feet of classrooms and laboratories
spanning two buildings opened in 2014.
The drop in local property values during the “Great Recession” delayed the ability to sell enough Measure J bonds for the auto technology complex until about a year ago, when values sufficiently increased.
In addition to mechanics’ bays for vehicles, the new complex will include high-tech classrooms and laboratories for art, photography and automotive education as well as a diesel shop, a machine room and general classrooms. The college’s career services center also will be housed there.
One new addition will be a special Maker Room, a special technology learning space designed to serve students majoring in engineering and industrial technology. It will house high-tech equipment such as 3D printers.
Silva noted that the trustees have approved the schematic design and overall concept for this new facility. District administration will now work with Sanders Inc. on developing and engineering the final architectural plans for DSA review. Sanders Inc. is an El Centro-based architecture and engineering firm.