Pasadena City College will officially kick off the construction of its new science and technology building, the Armen Sarafian Building, on Friday morning with a celebratory ceremony.
The new 5-story, 104,000-square-foot building will replace a previous structure that had been deemed seismically unsafe in 2012.
Armen Sarafian was a former PCC President who died in 1989. In an obituary, the Los Angeles Times described Sarafian as a “teacher, administrator, college president, member of the State Board of Education, education innovator.”
The new building will house classrooms and lab space for PCC’s programs in natural sciences and health sciences, as well as the Student Health Services office.
The project represents the first step in the college fulfilling the vision of its Facilities Master Plan, which intends to make operational and infrastructure improvements to PCC’s 49-acre Colorado Campus and its three satellite campuses throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
The college estimated the building will be completed in Fall of 2024.