Berkeley City College will break ground on a new building this month in the college’s first major expansion in 20 years that will double the footprint of the campus.
The new 60,000-square-foot, six-story building, which will be built downtown on Milvia Street near Center Street, will have 15 new classrooms, a library, a student wellness center, as well as staff and faculty offices.
Since 2006, BCC has been limited to a five-story building with a glass facade on Center Street. As it expanded, the city college began renting a nearby building to accommodate its new programs, like a resource center for undocumented students.
“The West campus will open up a bright new chapter in Berkeley City College’s future,” said BCC President Denise Richardson.
The new building will include two art studios, a communications classroom and lab and an anthropology classroom. Its classrooms will be equipped with technology for hybrid learning, so students will be able to attend classes in person or online.
“We recognized a long time ago that in order to expand BCC, we need more space,” said Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for the Peralta Community College District.
It will also include a learning resource center, where students can get support from peers and staff on coursework, and a wellness center for free mental health services. It will also be home to programs that support first-generation college students and students from underrepresented backgrounds in higher education.
“One of the most important design considerations was creating more spaces for students to study and find community,” Richardson said.
The $101 million expansion is paid for by Measure G, an $800 million facilities bond for the Peralta Community College District approved by 75% of voters in 2018.
Other projects funded by the bond measure include a child development center at Merritt College, a building for auto and diesel technology at the College of Alameda and an upgrade of the theater at Laney College.
The expansion comes at a time of depressed student enrollment in community colleges nationwide. At Berkeley City College, student enrollment dropped during the pandemic, though not as steeply as at other colleges. Since 2021, enrollment at BCC has ticked upward, at about 5% per year.
“The hope is that we can attract more students and with newer facilities, we should be able to,” Johnson said.
Before 2006, Berkeley City College had no centralized campus, with classrooms spread throughout Berkeley and Oakland.
The project will break ground April 23, and students will be able to enter the building by December 2025.
