PUHI — “Second” had a great significance, yesterday at the Kaua‘i Community College.
During the ground blessing ceremony officiated by Nani Hill of the Koloa Church, Gary Nitta said this is the second time a facility of the college’s Office of Continuing Education and Training has been designed.
OCET is one of two of the college’s anchors which will occupy the second building of the KCC One Stop Center, Nitta said.
“The first building was designed, but never built,” he said. “This is the second design for OCET, and work will start Oct. 1.”
Cheryl Fujii, the interim director for OCET, was thrilled to be part of the festivities.
“I’m so excited, I can hardly wait to get in so we’re close to everyone, again,” Fujii said.
Dr. Helen Cox was just as excited as she offered her congratulations to the project which was awarded to Unlimited Construction.
“This is a very important day for me,” Cox said. “I was here when the first building in the One Stop Center was blessed, but this is the first building I will see go up. The building will house the OCET offices and classes as well as the Bookstore and everyone on campus is excited about work starting on this project.”
Nitta said the second building will occupy 19,000 square feet in an area close to the recently-completed One Stop Center. It will feature six offices, three computer labs and four classrooms.
Jolynne Uyesono, manager for the KCC Bookstore, was also excited about the new building.
“I’m so excited that we’re getting a new home closer to the front of the campus,” she said. “I went to Maui for the blessing of their new store, there, and I noticed that it was student-friendly. We are fortunate to have Trish Ejima of the Hawai‘i Auxiliary Services here who will be working with us in planning the inside of the store to create a similar atmosphere for our students.”
Unlimited Construction senior project director Mark Polster said Katie Horgan will be the project manager for the building.
“This is more a community project than for money,” Polster said. “We’re so happy that we were successful in the bidding. This is close to home for us and we’re happy to do this for the community.”
