Students who attended Citrus College during the 2012 spring or fall semesters may notice something rather strange as they approach the Administration Building. The noisy construction activities that persisted most of last year have been quieted.
In fact, the renovation of the Administration Building appears to have stopped all together.
Started in May 2010, the Administration Building remodel was undertaken to repurpose the space for improved efficiency.
The remodel was originally scheduled to be completed in April and is now four to five months behind.
According to Fred Diamond, director of facilities and construction at Citrus College, the price of the remodel for soft and hard cost fees is $4.69 million and $7.2 million for the entire project. The renovations are approximately 65 percent complete, the wiring is almost entirely finished and the only work that remains to be done is equipment installation, ceiling, and mechanical work.
Diamond confirmed that the cause of the delay is due to cash flow issues of the general contractor on the job, which caused the company to exceed the agreed-upon completion date. Carol Horton, vice president of finance and administrative services, stated at the Physical Resources Committee meeting on February 7 that it is the goal of the committee to get the structure built according to specifications. However, because the general contractor has received reoccurring stop notices for a number of jobs, the district has been forced to default him. According to Diamond, it is hard to say when construction will continue, but the college will probably not be able to reoccupy the building until December.
The Physical Resource Committee is currently working on financing for several other remodel projects that were planned to begin this year.
The preliminary plans for the renovation of the Technology Center building for the esthetician program have been completed, and a design plan is in progress. The dark room located on north side of the bottom floor of the Technology Center is being converted into the primary location for the esthetician program. Construction has already begun and the building should be completed and ready for occupancy by the fall semester.
The proposed retrocommissioning of the central plant is in the programming phase and will save 250,000 kilowatt hours per year (kWh/yr). The central plant, identified by the big green cooling tower next to the Owl Cafe, reduces electricity usage by cooling water at night and circulating chilled water during the day and has already saved the district more than a million kWh/yr.
Renovations of the Campus Center, Hayden Hall and Fine Arts buildings were also planned to begin this year, but are currently on hold pending funding.
