Organized Labor

$81 Million Project Opened Jan. 12

by Paul Burton
Contributing Writer

Construction of the new Community Health and Wellness Center at the City College of San Francisco's Ocean Avenue campus was recently completed and set to open Jan. 12.

The $81 million project is one of the college's District Wide Capital Projects. The three-story, 156,000 square-foot structure is designed to consolidate the requirements of the college's physical education programs with those of the athletic departments and will replace existing facilities at the north and south gymnasium.

The project relocated many different program elements into one building, providing a larger facility for team athletics, the dance program, physical education and martial arts. The Wellness Center also includes an aquatics center—the first in City College's history—with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Center has conference rooms, faculty and student lounges, a fitness center, weight room, dance studio facilities, martial arts and techniques studios, classrooms and faculty offices.

The Wellness Center is located between the student union and the library, serving as a campus center and gateway to the school's Ocean Avenue campus. A terraced 60 foot grade connects Ocean Avenue to the campus's main thoroughfare.

The project was designed by KMD Architects and K2A Architecture + Interiors, based in San Francisco. Hunt Construction Group—based in Scottsdale, Arizona, with offices in San Francisco—is the General Contractor. Phillip Sloyan, Construction Manager for Hunt, said that the contractor used many local subcontractors, awarding over 50 percent of the project scope to Small Business Enterprise subcontractors, exceeding the required goal of 40 percent.

He said the job was about 95 percent union, with the non-union workers covered under a Project Labor Agreement with CCSF. Sloyan said between 500 and 600 construction workers were employed on the job.

The Wellness Center is a state-of-the-art Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified facility. Hunt is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and specializes in using systems, materials, practices and standards for green and sustainable design in all phases of the building delivery, including planning, design and construction. The contractor also worked on San Francisco's new LEED certified Federal Building.

Sloyan said many factors went into qualifying the Wellness Center for the LEED certification, including using some recycled materials, buying materials locally, planting trees to shade the parking areas and using natural lighting and ventilation and other energy saving measures. The college's energy analysis resulted in a building that is 18.6 percent superior to the 2001 California energy code.

Hunt Construction Group also recently completed work on the campus's Child Development Center and completed work on the CCSF Student Health Center in August. The Health Center is a 22,000-square-foot, two-story building with an enclosed pedestrian bridge linking the building to an adjacent classroom building. The first floor of the Health Center provides spaces for medical services such as general medical needs, psychology counseling, eye examinations, HIV testing and counseling. This area also provides alternative health care such as nutrition counseling and weight management. It is estimated the Student Health Center will serve a projected 20,000 students annually. The second floor of the Student Health Center includes 10 full-sized classrooms on a double loaded corridor. A second floor bridge connects these classrooms with the adjacent building to maximize the use of the building. This much-needed classroom addition allows CCSF to remove 10 dilapidated portable classroom buildings that were built in the 1940s.

Commenting on the completion of the Student Health Center, Associate Vice Chancellor James Blomquist said, "Hunt met our demanding standards with flying colors. The District is delighted with this building."