Green Tomato: Sustainable Expansion at Cal Poly Pomona
07 November 2013The Collins College of Hospitality Management breaks ground for LEED Gold-certified expansion.
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management commenced construction of its $10 million building expansion during a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 7.
The 15,000-square-foot expansion includes two buildings and addresses the college’s growth needs in a sustainable way by striving to achieve LEED Gold certification. In addition to more classrooms and faculty workspace, the project will create a home base for the college’s three-year-old graduate program and a social space for students. Classrooms will utilize cutting-edge technology and innovative “flex” furniture designed to move and adapt to the evolving needs of today’s classroom. The project was designed by Ontario-based HMC Architects. Gilbane Building Company is the project’s construction management at-risk firm.
The buildings will include flex classrooms, a spacious student commons, faculty offices, group study rooms, executive-director offices for graduate education and professional development, and a conference room.
The Collins College’s expansion is fully funded by private donations from longtime supporters of the college, including namesakes Carol and Jim Collins, who pledged to match $5 million toward the project. Together, Panda Restaurant Group founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, prominent Inland Empire businessman Eugene Park, and Richard N. Frank and his late wife, Mary Alice, collectively donated the other $5 million.
Founded in 1973, The Collins College of Hospitality Management is the first and largest four-year hospitality-management degree program in California and the only hospitality-management college on the West Coast. Approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive education in the state-of-the-art Collins College facilities, where they learn to apply hospitality-management theories and concepts to real-world settings. Part of this unique academic experience includes managing and operating the full-service restaurant at Kellogg Ranch. For more information, visit http://collins.csupomona.edu.