Orange County’s top three universities are in the middle of a development boom.
Growing student populations, money from tuition and private donations as well as state funds are driving the building of classrooms, dormitories, student recreation centers and an athletic complex at California State University, Fullerton, the University of California, Irvine and Chapman University.
In all, these institutions are undergoing more than $700 million worth of construction projects. Here’s a look at some of their major developments.
Cal State Fullerton
The university is the largest school among the 23 Cal State campuses and is the second largest in the state after the University of California, Los Angeles.
In 1959, it got its start with just 450 students. Now, Cal State Fullerton is Orange County’s largest university with about 36,000 students.
And it’s been growing its campus to keep up with its growing student body.
Today, Cal State Fullerton has a sprawling 236-acre campus with 21 buildings and more on the way.
To accommodate its growth, Cal State Fullerton is building.
Two ongoing major construction projects include the $64 million business school named after alumnus and donor Steven G. Mihaylo and the $41 million student recreation center. Both are set to be completed next year.
Mihaylo, a 1969 graduate and founder of Arizona’s Inter-Tel Inc., pledged $4.5 million to the College of Business and Economics to build its new school in 2004. At the time, it was one of the largest cash pledges in the university’s history.
The gift sparked some debate on campus as business students brought up Inter-Tel’s $8.7 million in mail fraud and antitrust fines that surfaced under Mihaylo, who wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing.
The university launched a capital campaign to raise the additional money needed to complete the five-story, 190,000-square-foot building, according to Paul Carey, associate vice president and chief financial officer of Cal State Fullerton philanthropic foundation.
The new building will bring together the college’s academic and faculty offices into one location and will feature technologically advanced classrooms, said Anil Puri, dean of the College of Business and Economics, in an earlier interview.
The new building will house computer labs, administrative and office space, centers and institutes, he said.
“It will be a world-class business school,” Puri said.
The $41 million student recreation center is also nearing its completion. The two-story, 95,000-square-foot building will feature a rock wall, a gymnasium, a cardio and weight room, a pool and an indoor track.
The building was designed to use water effectively. It has projected savings of more than 415,000 gallons of water per year.
Earlier this summer, it was named the “Best Overall Sustainable Design” as part of the 2007 Best Practice Awards for the University of California and California State University Energy Efficiency Partnership Program.
And the campus is set to break ground on a $6 million police station in November.
While private donations from alumni and OC’s business community have helped the university fund development, Cal State Fullerton continues to struggle with finding money.
Earlier this year, university trustees approved a 10% increase in student fees.
Future construction projects ultimately depend on how much the university will be able to receive in state funds and private donations. Cal State Fullerton also has to take into consideration that it has to look for growth beyond its Fullerton campus, which is hemmed in by development, according to Jay Bond, associate vice president of facilities management.
President Milton Gordon hopes that the university will be able to acquire permanent land at its Irvine campus at the former El Toro Marine base.
The school also is in talks with the city of Tustin about possibly getting land at its former Marine base.
University of California, Irvine
The university was founded in 1965 and is the second-youngest school in the University of California system.
The school’s campus spans 1,500 acres, which was both donated by and bought from The Irvine Company.
UC Irvine counts roughly 25,000 enrolled students and has plans for more than $1.3 billion in construction projects including academic buildings, parking structures and sewers, roads and seismic projects during the next 10 years.
Key projects include construction work on the engineering, social and behavioral sciences buildings, Rowland Hall and the biological services building.
This year, UC Irvine unveiled its new home for the School of Information and Computer Sciences. The building, which has about 100,00 square feet of classrooms, offices and laboratories as well as a big rooftop patio overlooking the few remaining undeveloped areas on campus, took about three years to complete and was funded by a $20 million gift from Irvine Co. chairman Donald Bren.
This month, the university will open its student center to the public after undergoing a $52 million expansion project for the past two years. The center has expanded to 209,000 square feet to include more conference and meeting space, a large ballroom, two food courts and more study areas.
The university’s major off-campus development includes the $370 million expansion of UCI Medical Center in Orange.
Chapman University
The Orange-based private school is trying to expand to house a growing number of students, which is now at about 5,740.
Chapman’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment has doubled since 1992 and the school has had a five-year growth rate of 17%. To accommodate its growing student body, Chapman began a six-year construction program in 2001.
As a private institution, the university is funding its construction projects through college revenue and charitable donations.
In 2004, four new buildings including a fifth residence hall, a second music hall, a new library and an interfaith center added more than 140,000 square feet to the campus, which now spans 75 acres.
The university’s recent campus expansion projects include the completion of the Marion Knott Studios, home of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
Marion Knott, Knott’s Berry Farm heiress, donated a total of $8 million for the project in 2004 and 2005. The $41 million, 76,000-square-foot building was completed in 2006. It includes the 500-seat Paul and Daranne Folino Theater, Digital Arts Center, Rose Hills Foundation Television and Broadcast Journalism Center.
The $22 million Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex is nearing completion. Last year the school completed the Holly and David Wilson Field, Lastinger Parking Structure and McCardle Events Plaza. The Ernie Chapman football stadium, Frank E. & Mary Ann O’Bryan aquatics center and Zee Allred Olympic pool are set to open next year.
Earlier this spring, Chapman announced that it’s set to move ahead with plans to redevelop a historic packing plant near its campus. Avocado distributor Prime Produce LLC currently operates out of the plant, which was built by the Santiago Orange Growers Association in 1919.
The school hired AC Martin Partners Inc. of Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks-based Chattel Arch-itecture Planning & Preservation Inc. to help design the 2-acre site.
Possible uses include graduate student housing, a food court, bookstore or studio space for Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
Though a budget for the project hasn’t been set yet, a source familiar with the project said it could cost $30 million to $40 million to redevelop.
Kris Olson, associate vice president of facilities management and campus planning, said in an earlir interview that the university will work with Orange’s Old Towne Preservation Association and the Orange Barrio Historical Society on the historically significant site.
While there are a number of buildings on the 2-acre site, Olsen said the school is deciding which will be preserved and which to redevelop.
Chapman, which bought the site in late 2004, plans to restore older buildings dating back to the early days of the citrus packing plant, Olsen said. Newer buildings could be transformed.
Landscape renovation started this summer on the central part of Chapman’s campus, between Leatherby Libraries, Beckman Hall and Wilkinson Hall. An outdoor amphitheater, sculptures and seating areas are part of the project. The project is expected to be completed later this year.
Construction plans are being set for a dorm building. Chapman’s Braden Hall will be transformed into a 300-bedroom building with a 150-space underground parking structure, conference facilities and a signature tower with a rock-climbing wall inside it.