Antelope Valley Community College District administrators and trustees held a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 13 for The Commons, the final project to be constructed with proceeds from Measure AV, the $350 million bond measure passed by local voters in November 2016.
The Commons will be a 47,353-square-foot facility that will serve as the campus core for student life. The project will include a full kitchen and dining facility, indoor and outdoor spaces for large gatherings, and a student life center that supports student interaction, student clubs, and student government offices. The building will be constructed just west of the two-story, 61,882 square-foot Student Services building, another Measure AV project that opened in April 2023.
“It’s kind of bittersweet because here we are at the tail end of a $350 million project, and we are groundbreaking the last building in the series today,” AV College Superintendent/President Jennifer Zellet said.
Zellet called the Student Services building and The Commons “companion” buildings that will complete the whole student experience at AV College. “You know this building means a lot,” she said. “It means a lot to me because it’s called The Commons… sitting in the heart of the campus, this really promises to become the heartbeat of campus.”
She added, The Commons will be symbolic of how AV College is committed to serving its students.
“All of our groups who have services and who meet together to find support and build community will happen right here, all in this one space,” she said. “And to me that is a beautiful symbol that we want in the middle of our campus. We want that to be where students gather, form communities, and make those connections that make their education meaningful for life.”
The approximately $55 million project almost didn’t happen. More than two years ago, in May 2022, district administrators dropped the building from the project list due to rising costs. Less than four months later, the project was resurrected thanks in part to a shuffling of several funds, including about $10.5 million from the Maintenance and Operations Endowment. The district also received a historic allocation of about $9 million in scheduled maintenance dollars from the state.
