City College of San Francisco can build its long-awaited and much-needed performing arts center after obtaining state approval.
The Diego Rivera Performing Arts Center will feature a 600-seat performance hall, 150-seat studio theater and 100-seat recital hall, along with flexible instructional spaces, practice rooms and administrative offices to support student learning across the arts.
The facility, which will formally break ground on Jan. 22, will quite literally be a gigantic showcase for the college's priceless Diego Rivera fresco, "Pan American Unity." Passersby will be able to see the floor-to-ceiling, 60,000-plus-pound artwork from the street through the building's glass-curtain facade.
"Let's get started!" said long-time Music Department Chair Madeline Mueller at the college's Facilities Committee meeting on Monday afternoon. Mueller has championed the construction of the facility for her students for many years.
City College's new performing arts center will prominently feature Diego Rivera's Pan American Unity fresco and then some. | City College of San Francisco
"It's about damn time!" said Steven Brown, head of the Environmental Horticulture and Floristry Department.
The $180 million, bond-funded project is designed by TEF Design in collaboration with LMN Architects and is estimated to take about two years to build, according to the college. They're targeting LEED Gold certification with plans for displacement HVAC in the auditorium, radiant floor heating and cooling and a stormwater filtration and retention system.
"We're scrambling to get the paperwork in and signed before the holidays," said Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Alberto Vasquez, who's diligently leading a transformation of the college.
The center will be located between the Harry Britt Building and the STEAM building along Frida Kahlo Way on the former Balboa Reservoir basin that the college is transforming into its western campus. The other portion of the reservoir is now under construction to become housing. (Disclosure: This reporter teaches at the college and has advocated for a "town and gown committee" to integrate the college into the neighborhood.)
A rendering of the building looking down from College Hill. | City College of San Francisco
The state approved the arts center on Friday afternoon. Its groundbreaking had been anticipated for late 2024, but the complexity of the project required painstaking review.
"The overarching reason for the duration of this project’s review is that it is a massive and complicated project requiring extensive structural design and review of the building systems and support anchorage of the contents," said Jennifer Iida, a spokesperson for the Division of State Architect.
The center will replace the college's woefully small Diego Rivera Theatre, which has been home to the college's music and drama departments, along with its namesake's fresco and other works of art, since the 1960s.
The college's music and theater programs will be assisted and enhanced by the new facilities. The addition of the theater spaces will "make possible credentialed programs not currently available," according to the college.
A hall in the new building. | City College of San FranciscoCity College of San Francisco's new performing arts center will have a black box theater, enabling the college to offer more credentialed programs. | City College of San Francisco
Chancellor Kimberlee Messina announced in a note to the college community that a program to celebrate the arts and music that will define this new space is underway.
Sculptures in the college's impressive collection will be featured inside and outside the center. A replica of "Pacifica" from the Golden Gate International Exposition may be placed outside, and "Goddess of the Forest" will be placed inside.
The building has interesting potential for the wider Ingleside neighborhood.
Last year, while campaigning for mayor, Mayor Daniel Lurie told The Light that he would work with the college, the tourism industry and small businesses to integrate the arts center into cultural tours for the enhancement of the neighborhood economy.
A rendering of the center's loading zone. | City College of San Francisco
"Additionally, I'll work to improve transit access and community programming around the theater, ensuring that Ingleside becomes a vibrant cultural destination that showcases our rich artistic heritage and contributes to the city’s economic growth," Lurie said.
The arts center won't be the college's only construction project on its section of the former Balboa Reservoir. Officials are in the process of obtaining approval for a $50 million parking structure on the west campus between the STEAM Building and Archbishop Riordan High School.
Alex Mullaney founded The Ingleside Light in 2008 during the peak of San Francisco's great tradition of neighborhood newspapers. He is the publisher and editor.
