College considers former Fortino’s and downtown building to add
classrooms
Gavilan College is considering two local buildings
– the former Pinnacle building at the corner of Fourth and San
Benito streets and the soon-to-be-vacant Fortino’s store on Tres
Pinos Road – to expand its available classroom space for a
burgeoning student population.
College considers former Fortino’s and downtown building to add classrooms
Gavilan College is considering two local buildings – the former Pinnacle building at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets and the soon-to-be-vacant Fortino’s store on Tres Pinos Road – to expand its available classroom space for a burgeoning student population.
“We need about 20,000 square feet just to take care of the demand that is continuing to be strong,” said Gavilan President Steve Kinsella, who noted that after a 7 percent jump in the college’s enrollment last year, the number of students has grown another 12 percent this year.
“We’re still expecting continued growth, especially with the [Hollister] building moratorium being lifted,” he said.
Forty percent of Gavilan’s students are from Hollister, Kinsella said, so adding to the classroom space now available at the college’s Briggs Building satellite location would “take the pressure off the Gilroy campus and we’ll keep those students in town.”
Gavilan has six classrooms that serve nearly 1,000 students in 75 classes on the lower level of the downtown parking garage at Fourth and San Benito streets, according to site manager Judy Rodriguez. The location has been used for 12 years by the college, which has a 15-year lease on the property.
There “never has been any discussion of not using the Briggs Building,” Kinsella said. Rather, the college needs more room to accommodate additional students.
“We’ve seen a lot of that growth due to unemployment,” Rodriguez said. “People are going back to get re-trained,” with much of the growth occurring in math and English classes.
The Hollister City Council, in its role as the Redevelopment Agency board, recently authorized RDA staff to facilitate discussions between Gavilan and property owner John Klauer of K & S Properties regarding his building at Fourth and San Benito. Klauer also owns the building that houses Fortino’s, which is scheduled to close for good this weekend.
“We’re trying to keep [Gavilan] in downtown,” said RDA Executive Director William Chow. “That’s why we’re involved in the negotiations. They were looking at a couple of other sites but we didn’t think it was good for the city or downtown Hollister” to consider those.
The RDA has proposed offering Klauer a loan of up to $1.3 million to renovate the building at 310 Fourth St., which previously housed The Pinnacle offices, county mental health offices, and was once a JC Penney store. The funding could be used to address seismic issues and help make structural and facade improvements.
Klauer said the building is 30 percent occupied with five tenants and is for sale, though he would consider taking it off the market if a deal is struck to have Gavilan as a tenant.
“It’s really tough to find a tenant nowadays,” Klauer said, adding that the proposed $1.3 million in RDA funds “is merely a remodel price. Theoretically, that place would have to be gutted inside. It’s going to take upwards of $2 million if Gavilan does have interest in going there.”
In a report to the council, William Avera, Hollister’s director of development services, said helping Gavilan expand its classroom space in the downtown area has “several immediate benefits” including increased foot traffic, filling a sparsely-populated building with a “solid, long-term” tenant, an improved building front and a higher assessed valuation of the building.
Klauer said that with the planned county courthouse project a block west at the former Fremont School site, developing his building downtown would make sense.
“I can guarantee you that the city of Hollister doesn’t want to lose Gavilan as a tenant of the downtown, since they bring in several hundred people a day,” he said. “Between K & S and the RDA, we’re trying to come up with a plan to entice Gavilan to stay downtown. There are only a few places that can accommodate their needs.
The RDA proposal does not pertain to the former Fortino’s store, according to Chow. Klauer, who said he “can’t discuss anything” about the Fortino’s site as it pertains to Gavilan, emphasized that renovating the Fourth and San Benito building for the college would be “ideal for the downtown in general.”
The classroom expansion issue is currently a closed-session item with the Gavilan College Board of Trustees, and Kinsella said he expects it to be discussed at the board’s March meeting.
“This will be on the agenda until the board makes a decision,” he said. “We have to do something with space. We do have the money to build additional rent payments into our budget. We need to find a location and terms that will work. Meeting the demands of the students will factor into what we decide.”
Kinsella said that whatever site is chosen for additional classroom space, it will take “at least a year” to get final approval.
“Whenever we change physical locations, we have to get it approved by an accrediting committee, then we’d be able to enter into a lease and do all those things,” he said. That committee only meets twice a year – in June and January – so college officials hope to have a proposal ready for the summer meeting.
“The best thing is, we plan on expanding what’s offered to the community relatively quickly,” Kinsella said. “We plan to double the class offerings in the Hollister area.”
Gavilan plans to develop an 80-acre campus on land currently dry-farmed at the intersection of Airline Highway and Fairview Road, east of Ridgemark Golf and Country Club. The build-out of the campus, which will include classrooms, dorms, a library and sports fields, is expected to take 20 to 30 years.
