Fortino’s remains at the top of the list for college classroom
expansion
Uncertainty over state funding for community colleges could
impact how soon Gavilan College expands it classroom space in
Hollister, but officials say the school is still committed to
finding more room for students within the city.
Fortino’s remains at the top of the list for college classroom expansion
Uncertainty over state funding for community colleges could impact how soon Gavilan College expands it classroom space in Hollister, but officials say the school is still committed to finding more room for students within the city.
The former Fortino’s building on Tres Pinos Road remains the only site under formal consideration, though negotiations on the property remain a closed session item on the Gavilan Board of Trustees agenda. The former Pinnacle building on the northwest corner of Fourth and San Benito streets was also considered for classroom expansion, but that site is apparently off the table.
“We’re still looking at the property that’s on the list,” Gavilan President Steven Kinsella said this week, referring to the Fortino’s site, which, like the former Pinnacle building, is owned by K&S Properties. “Nothing can happen now until we settle with the state budget.”
Reductions in state funding have forced Gavilan to reduce its enrollment at all of its sites, including Morgan Hill, the main Gilroy campus, and the downtown Hollister site, located in the Briggs Building.
“It has impacted the entire college’s operation,” Kinsella said. “We’ve reduced our class schedule and we’ll have to do the same thing in the spring unless this new budget has some surprise money in there – which I’m convinced it will not have.”
Burgeoning enrollment at the Gavilan satellite campus in downtown Hollister prompted the college to look for an additional 20,000 square feet of classroom space in the city limits. The Hollister Redevelopment Agency has endorsed the former Pinnacle building as its preferred site, offering John Klauer of K&S up to $1.3 million in loans to renovate the building to meet educational codes.
However, Gavilan officials have focused on the Fortino’s building, which is expected to require less retrofitting to be brought up to code as an educational center.
Klauer said he is working with Gavilan’s architects to establish what structural elements are required for a building that will house classrooms.
“We’re still in the process of evaluating the building, and it’s a lengthy process,” he said, adding that he is still waiting to formally hear from the RDA whether it would extend its loan offer to the Fortino’s site. City officials previously indicated that the loan was specifically for the downtown property.
Asked if the Fortino’s building could be brought up to the specifications set forth by Gavilan, even without RDA assistance, Klauer said “absolutely.”
Klauer said he has had “some interest” from other entities about the Fortino’s site.
“I can’t disclose who,” he said. “We’ve had some public agencies and retailers inquire, but none of that is very serious at this point.”
Gavilan is looking for a building with at least 20,000-square-feet of space so that it can conform to the state’s minimum space requirements for such an educational center, Kinsella said. Meeting those requirements guarantees that the state will fund operating costs at the site.
“We can’t achieve our long-term goal, [building an 80-acre campus at the intersection of Airline Highway and Fairview Road], until we get our next goal, which is a 20,000-square-foot site that will accommodate 500 FTE (full-time equivalent) students,” Kinsella said. “We need to basically double the space we have now.”
Klauer said he does not expect a deal to be in place with Gavilan in the next 60 days, but when and if a deal is reached, he said tenant improvements to the former Fortino’s building could be completed within six months.
“Either way, we’re looking at a year from now at the earliest” for new Gavilan classroom space to be ready in Hollister, he said.
Kinsella said that any additional classroom space would have to be approved by a state accrediting committee, which reviews such applications on a monthly basis.
The build-out of the 80-acre college campus is expected over the next 20 to 30 years, officials said.
