In May of 2013, the new 1600 building was opened to students and faculty around campus. With a new cafeteria, dining rooms, administration offices and places for Admissions and Records, Counseling and Financial Aid, everyone could find what they needed in one place. What most people don’t think about is that these places were once at other locations.
Going into October of 2013, plans are being made to figure out what to do with the empty buildings left over from the move to the 1600 building. Each building has a fate now, minus one building, and future plans are already being discussed or nearly cemented in for the buildings.
Buildings 100B, 1000 and 1300D are all to be demolished. These were the Vice President of Academic Services office, Copy Center/Veterans Center and the former staff lounge. The Veterans Center is to be moved to the 1310/1320 building, which was formerly the Financial Aid and International Students offices, while the Copy Center will be moved into an area of the 1700 building, which is the former cafeteria.
There are buildings that are also not going to be demolished. Most have plans on what will be done with them, and others are already finished. Buildings 1300A, B and C were portables that were being rented by Las Positas, and have already been returned.
Interim president Dr. Guy Lease has overseen these moves and has been helping with the process.
“The building we owned, in order to get rid of it, anything that the district owns of value, has to go to the Board of Trustees and be determined to be surplused to our needs,” Lease said. As only one other building has been surplused, Lease added, “we then have to offer it to other public agencies and school districts for around 90 days, which is the process we’re in right now.”
Other buildings are already being temporarily used for now, until their fates have been decided. The 700 building was originally the Admissions and Records and Counseling offices, which are now in the 1600 building. It is going to be used as a temporary space for the library, as there will be a library renovation project. After remodeling, though, plans for the 700 building include a computer lab and possibly a classroom.
“Building 100 is under hold right now, and being used for storage, as we were transitioning into the 1600 building,” Lease said. He also added, “the district has a one stop center at the former district office in Pleasanton. It’s the only thing left in the building, and we’re interested in moving it here, but it’s going to take some money. We’re up for our five year contract and don’t want to spend money until we have a contract and the money, so we’re not renovating without money.”
Building 900, the former location for the CalWORKS/EOPS offices, is being used partly as a classroom right now. It still could be used as a classroom in the future, but there are no set plans.
On the LPC campus, the 1600 building was built and turned into a new student center. The buildings left over were immediately taken into consideration, for whatever planning needed to be done with them. Some were even finished. The plans are set, some already done and even more is about to come to the LPC campus.