Del Mar College started the demolition of the English building June 23, a process that is expected to take two weeks. Courtesy photo
Del Mar College is making moves to improve its campus in its largest construction project since its founding in 1935.
With the help of a $46 million bond, Del Mar College is tearing down its English building to replace it with something much more grand: a General Academic and Music Building (GAMB), covering 127,500 square-feet.
The demolition of the English building began June 23. Rather than retrofitting the 57-year-old facility, which is among the oldest structures on campus, it was more fiscally sound to rebuild.
Construction will bring much more room to learn. The English building contained 12 classrooms, 25 offices, a book storeroom and a departmental library. Upon completion, the GAMB will contain 29 classrooms, 23 practice rooms, 32 studios and three rehearsal rooms.
The music portion alone claims 42,500 square-feet of space. The rest of the expansion will house the departments of English and Philosophy, Communications, Languages and Reading, Mathematics, and Social Sciences.
In addition to the academic spaces, construction will bring an outdoor amphitheater, gathering spaces, plazas, pathways and a shaded green space.
The green space will be named Mike Anzaldúa Plaza, a memorial to an educator who served for more than 40 years at Del Mar College. Upon his passing in 2012, Anzaldúa left $400,000 to be used as scholarships for students studying English, music and Mexican-American studies for Del Mar’s chapter of of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education.
The General Academic and Music Building is slotted to be finished in August 2019.
