Renovations continue at OCC

The show was just getting started at OCC with the opening of the $35-million library in January, school officials said. Up next: a $12-million renovation of the Lewis Center for Applied Sciences set to open in July.

The Lewis Center is home to the college’s marine, geology, physics and astronomy programs and has been closed since the fall, said Richard Pagle, vice president of administrative services. The two-story, 30,000 square-foot building will get a little more storage space and a new interior, Pagle said. The floor level will house the marine science program and feature a new lab, aquarium and geology lab.

“The campus is excited for the opening in the fall and we’re looking to getting some classes back in there,” Pagle said.

The renovation is only a preview of something better to come, officials said. The Lewis Center will be one of four “blocks” to a $32-million science complex slated to break ground after the Lewis Center renovation.

The college’s new Allied Health, Biology and Consumer building will be 72,000 square feet and architecturally unique, Pagle said. Four separate buildings will have courtyards between them. Half of the science complex’s funding will come through Measure C, approved by voters in 2002, and half through state matching funds, Pagle said.

Pagle is looking forward to a few years from now when the new Learning Resource Center/Library, and Allied Health, Biology and Consumer will create the OCC landscape.

“It’ll be like a university right here in Costa Mesa,” he said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.