Southwestern College’s corner lot has been an empty dirt lot for more than half a century, with college officials and community members brainstorming on what can be housed there.
Previous plans for a strip mall on the lot never came to fruition as a group of citizens came together to halt those plans.
And in 2010 there were plans to develop the lot but a corruption scandal involving college officials and contractors did away with those plans.
But during a press conference Tuesday the vacant lot was filled with bulldozers, mounds of dirt and construction crews as college officials broke ground on the college’s new wellness and aquatics complex at the corner of H Street and Otay Lakes Road, one of Chula Vista’s busiest intersections.
“I have shopped for everything from Christmas trees to pumpkins in this dirt lot so I am aware of its history and really quite thrilled to see that we’re building and we’re bringing up our facilities for the college,” said Jim Spillers, athletic director and dean of wellness and exercise science for the college.
The $52 million complex paid for by Proposition R, a $389 million general obligation bond approved by voters in 2008, will include two Olympic-size swimming pools and a therapy pool, a 2,500-seat gymnasium, fitness labs, community locker rooms and classrooms.
The new 80,000-square-foot center replaces the existing facilities that will be demolished to support the construction of the new math, science and engineering building.
SWC President Melinda Nish said the community would also benefit from the wellness and aquatic center.
“What we are most excited about is the community interface. This just isn’t for our students, although they come first, but our community is also going to be able to use this facility,” she said. “This is going to be a fabulous improvement, not just for Southwestern College but for the entire Southwestern community in Chula Vista.”
A college spokeswoman said that SWC has entered into a partnership with the Sweetwater Union High School District to use the state-of-the-art facility.
Nish said there was a lot of research to find out what the community needed on the corner lot.
Spiller anticipates the facility to eventually be home to California Interscholastic Federation swim and water polo events and Community College Athletic Association tournaments.
The fitness and aquatics complex is the latest in a string of developments with Prop. R funding. The center is adjacent to Fieldhouse Classroom and Devore Stadium, which were also funded by Prop. R and fully constructed last year.
Spillers said the world-class aquatic center would make the college more competitive in water sports.
“It will raise the bar for all of our students as they experience Southwestern College athletically,” he said. “It becomes a huge draw for student athletes who want to come to Southwestern College to compete in what will be some of the best facilities on the West Coast.”
The project is expected to be completed in fall 2018.
