LAKEPORT — Local officials and other Mendocino College supporters gathered in Lakeport Tuesday afternoon to tour the future site of the Lake Center and celebrate the newly created local affiliate of the Mendocino College Foundation.
Mike Adams, director of facilities and planning for the college, led the tour of the 31-acre parcel at 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport on which the new Mendocino College Lake Center will sit.
Now primarily a large open field, the property will eventually hold a main building and administration center, laboratory building, classroom building, an outdoor quad area, planted trees and a parking lot as part of Phase 1 of the project, Adams said.
Initial architectural designs are complete and currently going through the final approval process, according to Adams, who hopes the project will go out to bid this summer with the goal of breaking ground in September.
With decent weather during the spring in 2012, construction could be completed by the end of 2012 and the facility opened to students and faculty by the beginning of 2013, Adams said.
The total cost of the project is roughly $13.5 million, Adams said.
Before the tour, representatives of the Mendocino College Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps direct private funds to scholarships, services and other programs, spoke during a reception at the Ruzicka Associates building, which neighbors the new Lake Center site.
The foundation”s board of directors approved the creation of a new affiliate, the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College (LCFMC), during its board meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The LCFMC will focus on issues related to the Lake Center and the college”s Lake County students while sharing and promoting the mission and vision of the foundation.
During the reception, the foundation presented an award to Wilda Shock honoring her dedication to the LCFMC.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
