Grossmont College has seen ongoing campus construction for the past several years, but some of the wait to see what’s been built comes to an end this fall.
Since early 2024, a construction site right by the Griffin Center has been in development, dispersing the classes that were taught there into portable classrooms on campus. However, two of the classroom buildings are expected to be finished this summer.
Grossmont College’s Interim President Pam Luster provided some insight on the progress of the construction. “Building’s 51 and 55 are currently under construction, and they are nearing substantial completion,” she said. “They should be done mid June-ish.”
The celebration doesn’t just end with the buildings’ finished construction, but instead extends to the fact that they will be ready to be used for classes in the fall semester. “Right now we’re looking at how to repopulate the building,” Luster said. “We are working right now on which classes go back in there.”
Having the two buildings accessible and ready to be used is exciting, but the plans for this area go even further.
In between the parking structure and the soon to be accessible buildings 51 and 55, lies three building. There are plans to replaced these with one building in a similar style to building 36, Grossmont’s most recently finished construction.
“We are going to build a new building that will replace 52, 53, and 54,” Luster said. “And we’re hoping that we can use the footprint that was used for building 36, which is our science math science building.”
Having more space for academics is definitely something that will give students more opportunities for success, but new athletic department plans also give hope to even more opportunities for Grossmont students.
Building 43, the indoor gym, has plans to receive a facelift too. “We’re doing some modifications to the gym, so we will be working over the next year or so.” Luster said.
“We’d be adding air conditioning, replacing the bleachers so that we’d have new actual seated bleachers instead of those fun benches we all enjoy sitting on,” she explained. “Resurfacing the floor or making sure all of the markings are correct for basketball, volleyball, (and) all the sports that we have in there.”
The locker room spaces are also looking at getting some modernization, without a complete tear-down and rebuilding. Some plans include repainting to bring more life to the space. “We definitely want to give it a good refresh, so that’ll happen over the next year or so,” Luster said.
On the topic of campus athletics, many are curious about the future of our pool, and the short answer is that it will remain drained and inaccessible for the foreseeable future.
The current size of the pool is not up to regulation for aquatic sports to be hosted in. It should be noted though, a future plan exists to potentially extend the pool into the space where the beach volleyball courts are, but that requires district funding and bond approval that hasn’t yet been obtained.
The plans for Grossmont’s future are not just limited to new buildings and facilities though, but also frequent maintenance and care being given to issues like the plumbing that runs under the school.
“Our biggest need is the stuff you can’t see,” Luster explained. “It’s roofs, it’s water pressure, it’s blowouts that we’re having in the soil on the hills behind us here just because of erosion and different kinds of things.”
Even as the semester comes to an end, students may see some of those issues being addressed and corrected, starting with guard rails installed all the way back in 1963 being replaced on days when the campus isn’t as busy.
Additionally, as the hot, fire-prone months approach, shepherds and their goats are being brought in to eat the dry vegetation around the campus, creating a 30-foot buffer between the campus and the dry vegetation. The times of day that they will be able to be seen is not confirmed, but students may be able to see the goats hard at work in the next few weeks, according to Luster.
