Coastline college plans to add learning center

Coastline Community College plans to build a 60,000-square-foot learning center on the southwestern edge of Newport Beach that will feature everything from foreign-language programs to an art gallery.

“It will be an aesthetic improvement in the community and bring a higher-education learning center to the city that will be a real asset,” said Kevin McElroy, vice president for administrative services at Coastline Community College.

Coastline, which also has learning centers in Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Westminster, paid $12.79 million for the 3.5 acres at 15th Street and Monrovia Avenue in Newport Beach. Coastline is still in escrow with the property owner for the site, which is now occupied by a cluster of boarded-up buildings and some office and industrial buildings.

The new learning center will replace Coastline’s Costa Mesa learning center, housed in an old Newport-Mesa Unified School District building at 2990 Mesa Verde Drive East.

Plans for the new center call for a three-story building with 20 classrooms and three large multipurpose rooms. Coastline also plans to move its student art gallery in Huntington Beach to the new Newport Beach site. The Newport Beach center also will house art and dance programs and classes for seniors.

“We’re still in the planning stages, but if everything goes well, we’re trying to shoot for a 2012 opening,” said Isaiah Aguirre, a public information officer for Coastline.

Preliminary cost estimates are about $24 million.

Funding will come from Measure C, a $370-million bond measure for the Coast Community College District that voters passed in 2002.

Coastline has commissioned the Irvine-based architectural firm LPA to design the new center. The firm was chosen in part because of its eco-friendly designs, McElroy said. LPA also designed Newport’s Environmental Nature Center, which has earned the highest ratings for its environmentally friendly design.

“It’s a top priority for us to build a green building,” McElroy said.