GARDEN GROVE : Coastline College Gets a Permanent Campus

Coastline Community College, which once prided itself in being a college without walls, is getting its first permanent campus.

Coastline and the Garden Grove Agency for Community Development will unveil plans Wednesday to build a 45,000-square-foot educational center in Garden Grove’s downtown redevelopment area. The ceremony will be from 4 to 6 p.m. at Euclid Street and Garden Grove Boulevard, the future center’s site.

“This will be our first permanent building since we opened nearly 20 years ago,” said Gail McElroy, Coastline spokeswoman.

The community college currently leases satellite classroom facilities.

Coastline will pay for the construction, expected to cost between $5.8 million and $6.3 million, college officials said.

Matthew J. Fertal, Garden Grove’s director of community development, said the city is obligated to pay the college a portion of property taxes received in the redevelopment area. Instead of paying the school a percentage of taxes for 40 years, the agency will transfer the 4-acre parcel, valued at $1.7 million, to the college, he said.

Fertal added that the center is a key component in the city’s downtown redevelopment effort.

“It does bring a prestige to the community to have a center for higher education and it will bring several thousands of students to the downtown area,” he said. The students are expected to use local businesses and restaurants, which will encourage further development, he said.

Coastline will occupy 25,000 square feet of the center. Fertal said negotiations are underway with Cal State Fullerton to occupy the remaining 20,000 square feet, in which students would have the opportunity to pursue a four-year degree on the same campus.

Construction is expected to begin early next year and finish in the fall of 1997, McElroy said.