Southwestern College is close to finishing construction on its new Wellness and Aquatics Center, and on Thursday, Jan. 18, media outlets were invited to get an exclusive look at the new facility.

Located on the corner of East H Street and Otay Lakes Road, the long-awaited complex is the latest addition to Southwestern College’s newly-built facilities.

The $52-million center features a gymnasium, fitness center, classrooms, fitness labs, two Olympic-sized swimming pools, and a 25-meter therapy pool.

College administrators are very pleased with the new facility and are looking forward to the full opening of the center in the near future.

According to Jim Spillers, dean of Southwestern College’s School of Wellness, Exercise Science, and Athletics, this structure is a project that was a long time in the making.

“From the final design approvals to this point it has been three years of work,” Spillers shared. “But if you think of this in terms of what the South Bay area knows as the the ‘corner lot’ this has been in the making for over 50 years.”

The initial building process for the Aquatics and Wellness Center began back in February of 2016, when over 36,000 cubic feet of dirt were trucked in to lay down the foundation for this facility. The two-week process saw 140 dump trucks travel from a construction site in downtown San Diego to the eastern Chula Vista facility every day.

After the structure’s level and grade was set, construction on the 75,000-square-foot center began and went on for about 18 months.

Although there is still work being done on specific parts of the building, as well as the landscaping around it, the center’s gymnasium is already in use by Southwestern College’s athletics programs.

“We had our very first basketball game in here on Dec. 19, and the men’s team is currently undefeated on their home court,” Spillers boasted.

Quenn Meadows, a player on Southwestern College’s men’s basketball team, is proud to not only be undefeated on his court, but to be part of the first team to play on it.

“It’s an incredible experience, I’ve never been part of a new gym so this is something that I won’t forget,” Meadows said. “It is beautiful in here and I can’t wait to keep on winning in here and playing together with the team.”

Zennia Chia, an incoming freshman from Alaska on the women’s basketball team, is happy to be welcomed into the college the year in which this new gym is opening.

“This facility is like a D1 university level, it’s really great”, said Chia. “it is an honor to be part of the first women’s team to play in this gym.”

The Wellness and Aquatics Center will replace the now-closed pool and gymnasium buildings. On the site of these old structures, work on a new math, science and engineering building and a new performing arts center is being done.

Funding from the project comes from Proposition R, a $389 million general obligation bond which was approved by voters in 2008 to provide for modernization of facilities at Southwestern College’s main and satellite campuses.