Berkeley City College, introduced a $94 million, six-story, 60,000-square-foot expansion of its campus to community members and students at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.<\/p>\n
Located on the corner of Milvia and Center streets near BCC\u2019s main campus at 2050 Center St., BCC West will add 15 new classrooms, learning resource facilities and support areas for students and faculty.<\/p>\n
Construction of BCC West began in 2024 and finished in April 2025. Employees moved into the campus in June of this year, in time for the college\u2019s fall term.<\/p>\n
Once known as the \u201ccollege without walls,\u201d BCC previously lacked a permanent building, forcing faculty to teach courses wherever they could find space \u2014 which included anywhere from church meeting rooms to the basement of a Ross Dress for Less. The opening of a main campus in 2006 planted the school\u2019s roots, with BCC West now accommodating more in-person students.<\/p>\n
\u201cBerkeley City College is rising, and we are so proud to open the newest addition to the rich educational landscape in our city,\u201d said BCC President Denise Richardson in a press release. \u201cAs enrollment continues to grow, this facility not only increases our physical footprint in downtown Berkeley, but will provide transformative opportunities for students to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new campus offers a number of amenities for students, such as a wellness center, private study rooms and dedicated spaces for the college\u2019s student government and affinity programs. BCC West will also house art studios and labs for the communication and anthropology departments.<\/p>\n
Central to BCC\u2019s expansion is the addition of more communal spaces for students, which can be seen in the new student lounge and rooftop patio. The terrace, which is BCC\u2019s first outdoor gathering space, offers views of the Bay, and can be rented out for events in line with the city and the college\u2019s business partnerships, according to BCC spokesperson Thomas Rizza.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a place for learning, but it\u2019s a space that\u2019s really designed to be an asset to the community as well,\u201d Rizza said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, BCC West meets sustainability guidelines that earned it LEED Gold certification.<\/p>\n
BCC\u2019s $94 million budget for construction was primarily funded by Measure G, a bond passed by Alameda County voters in November 2018.<\/p>\n
The overall $800 million bond will go toward projects at BCC, the College of Alameda, Laney College and Merritt College, all belonging to the Peralta Community College District. The bond is the largest in the district\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
BCC\u2019s main campus will also receive Measure G-backed renovations, including STEM labs and classrooms, with completion set for 2030.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Mayor and former BCC student Adena Ishii said she has watched the construction of BCC West from her office on Milvia Street and that she would love for the city to work with BCC to provide more career opportunities for community college students.<\/p>\n
\u201cBerkeley City College was such a huge part of my journey,\u201d Ishii said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that I would have even honestly been mayor today if it hadn\u2019t been for Berkeley City College.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berkeley City College, introduced a $94 million, six-story, 60,000-square-foot expansion of its campus to community members and students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[183890,7983,389,83672,183889,28547,183894,182413,33037,183893,5680,105716,116764,143,145,144,33764,183891,183892],"class_list":["post-466857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-2050-center-street","tag-adena-ishii","tag-alameda-county","tag-berkeley-city-college","tag-berkeley-city-college-west","tag-center-street","tag-college-of-alameda","tag-denise-richardson","tag-laney-college","tag-leed-gold-certification","tag-measure-g","tag-merritt-college","tag-milvia-street","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-peralta-community-college-district","tag-ross-dress-for-less","tag-thomas-rizza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}