Lots 20 and 21, near the tennis courts, are closed for the upcoming construction of the third parking garage on campus expected to be completed spring 2020. Brittney M. Moreno
The five-story building will provide about 1,000 parking spaces.
By Lionel Ramos
lramos174@student.alamo.edu
This college’s third parking garage is in the beginning stages of construction and is expected to be finished near the end of spring 2020, said John Strybos, associate vice chancellor of facilities.
The construction of the parking garage south of Candler Physical Education Center was expected to start in late December or early January.
Strybos said in a phone interview Feb. 28, a fence perimeter was installed over the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“So that when the students would come back for school, the lot would be open, so students wouldn’t park in it,” he said.
This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was on Jan. 21, so the project officially began about two weeks after its expected start date, effectively blocking about 405 parking spaces in Lots 20, 21, 22, South of Candler Physical Education Center and Nail Technical Center, and Lots 28 and 29 at Maverick Street and Park Avenue, from students and faculty without any ground breaking.
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When completed, the five-story garage located in place of the tennis courts will block West Park Avenue and have an entrance to the college through Lot 20, which used to be Myrtle Street.
It will provide a net gain of 500 parking spaces, according to the campus revitalization website.
The new John L. Santikos Micronauts Center will be east of Candler Physical Education Center, and “the nation’s first ‘cradle-to-college’ STEM pathways” serving young children from ages 4-9 years old and the Early Childcare Center will be south of Scobee Education Center, according to the website.
Both projects will be completed in fall 2020 as part of the campus revitalization project and will form an “L” shape east of the garage.
According to a video at www.alamo.edu/sac/about-sac/our-college/revitalization/and photos of plans provided by the Alamo Colleges District in a past Ranger article, roads leading to the buildings, as well as into the garage, will be available from San Pedro Avenue and at Maverick Street.
Despite the short delay, Strybos said everything is still in order.
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The first step — establishing the fence, moving trailers to the site and preparing the site for work with porta-potties and other amenities for the workers — is followed by bringing equipment needed for construction and drilling the foundation, he said.
Vanessa Torres, director of public relations, said that though there is no official groundbreaking, the construction of the garage has been in effect since the fences were put up in January.
“Even though you don’t see it, there is a lot going on as part of a large construction project,” Torres said.
Vaughn Construction erected fencing around the work site in January rather than spring break for the advance work.
“They needed time to get prepared,” she said.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Santikos Micronauts Center and the Early Childcare Center is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 22 in Parking Lot 21 adjacent to Scobee Education Center.
