Groundbreaking set for JJC expansion work
By Tony graf tgraf@stmedianetwork.com January 4, 2013 11:52PM
An artist's rendition of the proposed Joliet Junior College building in downton Joliet.
Updated: February 7, 2013 6:36AM
A groundbreaking ceremony will be Jan. 22 for the expansion of the City Center Campus of Joliet Junior College.
The $50 million campus expansion will be six stories, totaling 96,000 square feet, at Chicago and Webster streets in downtown Joliet.
The vision for the project includes the culinary arts and hospitality management department and other programs, including workforce development, general education classrooms and student development offices.
In March, college trustees approved the schematic design of a shell building for the downtown campus expansion. Construction on the core and shell of the building is starting this month.
The community is invited to attend this month’s groundbreaking ceremony, which will be at 4 p.m. Jan. 22 in the Renaissance Center, 214 N. Ottawa St. in Joliet. A reception will follow.
The Renaissance Center, purchased by the college in 1980, provides hands-on experience for culinary arts students, along with hotel, restaurant and food-service management students who assist in the operations of the restaurant and banquet facility on a daily basis, according to the college’s website, www.jjc.edu.
The new six-story building will be just east of the Renaissance Center, at the site of the former White Store, which was demolished in early 2011 to make room for the expansion project.
If you plan to attend this month’s events, RSVP to Joyce Deddo at 815-280-2514 or jdeddo@jjc.edu.
Main campus
Another large expansion project, the health professions building, will have its grand opening on March 12 at the college’s main campus, 1215 Houbolt Road in Joliet.
The new U Building is located on the north end of the main complex of buildings on campus. Several academic programs have relocated to the newly completed structure in preparation for the start of the spring semester in January, the college said.
The programs housed in the building include: nursing, fire science and emergency medical services, radiologic technology, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, electrocardiography and phlebotomy.
“As a vital, life-changing resource for thousands of students, JJC is demonstrating its commitment to training and preparing skilled health-care workers by investing in the health professions building,” said Mary Beth Luna, chair of the department of nursing, allied health and emergency services.
“With health-care careers only expected to grow in the coming years, this building could not come at a better time for those needing job training in our community,” she said.
The building has excellent views of the campus’s nature area, where a tributary of Rock Run flows under the well-known bridge concourse. To enhance these views, the college has preserved attractive oak trees near the building during construction.
