New designs for Palm Springs College of the Desert campus released
On Friday, the College of the Desert board of education will hold a presentation with updates on the Palm Springs campus and Roadrunner Motors in Cathedral City.
Last month, the board voted to audit expansion projects dating back to 2014
New Designs for the Palm Springs COD Campus
One of the major presentations set for Friday's meeting is a look at new designs for the long-awaited Palm Springs campus.
The campus has been in development since 2004 with almost $1 billion raised in tax revenue for construction. It will be located on a 27-acre site right across the street from Palm Springs High School along S Farrell Drive, between E Tahquitz Canyon Way and E Baristo Road.
The campus has seen many designs in the many years its been in development, most recently last March.
Check out the previous designs below:
COD's Palm Springs expansion campus is scheduled to finish construction by Dec. 2025. It will cost
According to the school, the campus will establish and augment signature programs including Hospitality and Culinary Arts, Digital Media and Media Production, Radio, Health, and Sustainable Technologies.
The latest designs have the campus taking up more than 150,000 square feet, an increase of 10,000 square feet. Despite the larger size, a lot of the campus will initially be empty for future development.
School documents show that the campus will have two main buildings when it first opens, along with a parking lot and an outside learning/dining section.
The Accelerator building will be two levels.
Designs show that the first level will include classrooms, hospitality event space, a demo theater, culinary offices, a computer lab, a TV studio, a cafe, a computer lab, and more.
The second level of the building will include more classrooms, architecture studios, faculty offices, a lounge, etc.
The other main building, the Campus Support Building, will be comprised of maintenance and operations + campus security, a service yard, and a central utility plant.
So what could the actual buildings look like?
Bryan Shiles, founding partner of WRNS Studios and Mac McGinnis, program manager of MAAS Co. will present the new designs to the board. The designs are available to see early on the board's agenda.
The presentation shows a look at the entrance from Baristo Road and Farrell.
A look at what students will see when they walk in to the Welcome Lounge
As well as the campus' Computer Lab.
There will be an area for students to learn outside.
As well as outdoor dining spaces with shading.
Roadrunner Motors
The Palm Springs campus won't the only thing we'll get an update about during Friday's meeting.
Dr. Richard Parker of Rea & Parker Research will present a "Roadrunner Motors Employment and Economic Impact Analysis."
Parker is the president of Rea & Parker Research, as well as Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University.
Roadrunner Motors is a new Automotive Technology Training Center facility that will be constructed on a 5.8-acre parcel in Cathedral City.
The facility will provide specialized and generalized classrooms, teaching laboratories including service vehicle bays/lifts, offices, conference room, support space, and parking.
It's currently scheduled to open in either the fall or winter of 2025.
According to Parker's report, the new facility is expected to double the enrollments for the school's automotive program, which would be 1,710 student enrollments annually serving around 400 unique full-time equivalent students.
"With this new facility over a 7-year period, the college is expecting to serve 8,379 full and part-time low-income student enrollments," Parker writes.
Parker's presentation shows that over a 7-year period, there will be 5,600 automotive jobs available in the Coachella Valley region.
"With the Labor Market Information data, there is at least 800 or more jobs available annually in the Coachella Valley region. Therefore, the number of direct/quality jobs available regionally in the next 7 years would be 5,600," Parker writes.
Parker adds that the increased enrollment leads to job creation and upward mobility, with more than 75% of students finding jobs within two semester of leaving the school's program.
The new COD training center in Cathedral City will allow the College to expand its programming and enrollment to meet both student demand and employers’ hiring needs. Continuing education and training will also allow established auto mechanics in the nearby automotive dealerships and repair facilities the opportunity to acquire the skills and certifications they will need to stay current with advances in technology.
- Dr. Richard Parker
Parker's presentation will be immediately after the Palm Springs campus presentation.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.
