Santa Monica College has unveiled an ambitious plan to remake its Pico Blvd. campus.
This month, SMC released its intention to develop a new master plan for its Main Campus, which serves over 30,000 students across Los Angeles County and beyond. The proposed plan includes the demolition of over 350,000 square feet of buildings, replaced by 256,000 square feet of new construction.
Despite the downsizing in square footage, the proposal would include a host of educational opportunities. Buildings proposed as part of the plan include a 76,000 square foot Pico 1 building and a nearly 100,000 square foot Pico 2 building, replacing services provided by Drescher Hall and the Business Building.
In addition, construction would bring a 12,000 square foot police headquarters, a 42,000 square foot student union center, a 26,000 square foot maintenance and operations building, as well as two smaller buildings on Pearl Street.
“The plan envisions a dynamic campus that addresses both the current and future needs of the college,” the Master Plan document reads. “Instead of focusing on physical expansion, the plan optimizes existing physical assets of the campus and replaces buildings that are beyond their useful life to support an environment of discovery, innovation, societal change, and learning.”
As far as the widespread demolition goes, SMC states that about one-third of the campus’ building inventory “is in poor condition,” and the planned replacement of the Business Building and Drescher Hall “will transform the Pico campus edge and meet the program needs of the future.” Demolition will also happen for modular and temporary structures, as well as buildings “that do not have the flexibility to transition to future learning environments.”
The Drescher Hall replacement looks to house programs like English, Communication and Media Studies, and Photography in a four-story building. The Business Building replacement will house such programs as Fashion, Accounting and Cosmetology; as well as student-focused spaces like clubs and the Veterans Resource Center.
Along with the demolition of Drescher and the Business building, proposed demolitions also cover the Cayton Center for student health and activities, called “outdated and underutilized” by the plan text. The proposed new Student Union building looks to feature updated dining vendors, a right-sized book store, health and wellness offices and a maker space.
“The new Union will be a modern facility suited to the 21st Century campus and student … the project will bring together scattered tutoring resources into a centralized Learning Resource Center,” the plan stated.
Funding for the plan, if approved and passing environmental review, comes from multiple sources. A portion of remaining Measure V funds, a $345 million piece of funding passed in 2016, remains to be invested in master plan projects. In addition, part of the funds will come from Measure SMC, an authorization of $375 million for repairs and upgrades of aging facilities approved in 2022.
SMC has also submitted applications for state funding for both of the proposed Pico classroom buildings, with initial project proposals already submitted for the Drescher Replacement building and the Business Replacement building, with the latter also having a Final Project Proposal submitted.
If approved, the planned construction would go through 2035, with the first phase focused on the construction of the two Pico buildings and the Police Headquarters, as well as proposed renovations to the Life & Physical Sciences Complex.
