Next spring, students will return to campus with three finished building projects.

The Humanities Building located next to the East Campus’s Cafeteria will be open, furnished and ready for classes. Outside the Campus Center Cafeteria, the Chipotle inspired burrito shack will be serving burritos for hungry customers. The District Wide Electronic and Wireless Lock Upgrade will be completed and installed on many of the doors throughout the district.

The combination of these projects cost the college approximately $14.8 million from the Measure V fund, which is a bond the public passed in June 2008.

Construction Project Manager Jay Sullivan helps oversee many of the construction projects on campus. He was brought on to oversee the Garvin Theatre remodel and has been trusted to oversee different campus projects ever since.

“There are three variables that affect construction: time, money and product quality,” said Sullivan. “If you touch any one of those variables, you affect the other two.”

Construction on the Humanities Building began in July 2012 and cost $12.6 million. The college will begin to move back in early January.

The building will house classrooms, offices, various labs, conference rooms and galleries.

“Even though we’re finishing the building right on schedule, we have to move all the faculty back into their office.” said Sullivan. “We have to have the building operational by Jan. 27.”

Frank Shipper Construction outfitted the building with space in their computer lab for 25 percent more computers. The building also was designed with glass-encased conference rooms on the front of the building facing the cafeteria.

“[Instructors] want to be in the building too. We’re working with the faculty and deans to get everybody back in,” said Sullivan. “We have enough time, but it’s going to be tight.”

Outside of the Cafeteria, the burrito shack will be open and ready for wrapping on the first day of the semester.

The college used $550,000 from Measure V to redesign both East and West Campus Cafeterias. The West Campus Cafeteria is already renovated and when the East Campus renovation is done, the project will be completed.

“We wanted to do it with the least amount of cost possible, which meant saving the existing structure completely,” said Sullivan. “At a certain point you can only get so much in there.”

These snack shacks will feature fresh produce, new furniture and new interior designs. The east shack will have an awning set up to cover a soda-dispenser outside of the building. When the building closes, the soda-dispenser will be covered and locked behind an overhead door.

“We’ve always had this thing of just chicken fingers and fries [at City College.] I got fed up.” said Marc Sullivan, director of food services. “Nothing frozen in there, that’s the direction I’m going.”

Key cards will be used to open up the electronic locks that have been installed district-wide throughout the year. Some teachers may already have cards, while others will get theirs later. The key cards only need to be held within proximity of the lock for its tumblers to open.

These new-age locks will help in emergency situations with gunmen, but they can also help to reduce theft.

“I’m telling you, eventually it’s going to be everywhere,” said Sullivan. “One of the nice things about proxy-readers is you know when people come in and when people leave.” This can help track who was in a specific room and when things went missing.

The college also owns a program called blackboard. It allows the college to shut down any and all doors on campus, within seconds.

“In order to protect the students and staff adequately, we need to put the best safety measures in place. That means having a system that allows you to do an instant lock down,” said Erik Fricke, director of security. “This system allows that. It’s a very good system to have.”

These projects are scheduled to be complete by Spring semester. Check this article out for information about the East Campus entryway remodel, or look here to read about the IDC renovations.