South Seattle College is now in the process of building a $32 million, 57,500 sq. ft, Integrated Education Center. The funds for the project came from the Capital Budget Allocation from the State of Washington.

The project consists of a new three-story education building and approximately 4 acres of onsite site pedestrian, vehicular and utility improvements.

The new 57,550 square foot Integrated Education Center replaces the existing Cascade Court Building and provides for expanding growth in the Health Care Programs and needs for basic skills training. The facility will accommodate approximately 140 new Full Time Equivalent students (FTE’s).

The plan is for the new building to be complete in May 2017 and through the summer SSC will be moving staff, faculty and infrastructure in.

They plan to officially open the IEC to students in Fall Quarter 2017

The IEC will provide for expanded growth in the college's health care programs and needs for basic skills training, which includes English as a Second Language (ESL), adult basic education and high school completion.

The IEC’s first floor will have general purpose classrooms and computer labs. The second floor will be dedicated to health care programs, and the third floor will house faculty and staff from various disciplines. There will be small collaborative spaces found throughout the building intended for small group meetings or projects, and there will be three outdoor spaces - one at the front entrance, a balcony on the west side of the first floor and a roof garden on the west side of the second floor.

Co-location of these programs will increase the efficacy of vocational-focused ESL training, I-BEST (where students learn basic skills in reading, math and/or English while simultaneously getting job training) and nursing NAC-LPN-RN ladders to better serve ethnic minority students and students with emerging English skills.

The IEC represents the first phase for the College to build on the western campus embankment and take steps to implement the Campus Master Plan. This location offers an opportunity to improve the visibility and identity of the College along 16th Ave SW and the adjacent neighborhood. The project will be scaled and articulated to provide a balance and transition between the scale of the campus and the residential neighborhood.

Here's the anticipated project construction schedule:

Phase 1 construction - IEC (4/2016-5/2017)
College to move out of the Cascade Court (5/2017-6/2017)
Phase 2 construction - Cascade Court Demolition (7/2017-10/2017)

You can follow the progress of the project on a live webcam here
https://www.truelook.com/tl/app/?u=ks1464117564#tl_live
or through updates posted to the college website
http://www.southseattle.edu/news/2016/integrated-education-center.aspx