Earlier this spring, City College of San Francisco suffered a serious snafu, when classes at the school's Civic Center campus were unexpectedly relocated due to an urgent seismic retrofitting of the building at 750 Eddy St. A rally was held on March 5th as both students and teachers protested the shuttered school and the displacement of its students.

Now, however, it appears a solution is in the works. A temporary location at 1170 Market St. has been secured, and classes will start at the new location this fall.

A rally in March took place in support for the re-opening of a Civic Center campus. (Photo: AFT 2121)

When CCSF closed the 750 Eddy St. campus and moved the classes to other locations, enrollment dropped significantly, according to AFT 2121 (the City College Faculty Union). Many of the enrolled students at that campus didn't have the time or funds to commute to a campus across town.

But a solution is on the way: CCSF announced in a press release on Tuesday that a six-year lease has been secured for the new campus at 1170 Market St., which spans 22,668 square feet over five floors. The space is ample enough to carry all of the courses from the previous location, including English as a second language courses and vocational education classes.

AFT 2121 President Tim Killikelly told us that "to rebuild this enrollment is not a simple task. We lost about half the enrollment, and we want to make sure that it's rebuilt, and that's it's a continuing viable college for the Tenderloin community. There needs to be a plan for how the outreach is going to happen. It's not just about the building, it's about the people."

That said, he told us that AFT 2121 is "cautiously optimistic" about the campus, as long as administration works with the faculty and community to revitalize student enrollment. 

Up until now, 1170 Market St. has been occupied by the Art Institute of California, which owns a large number of buildings in the downtown San Francisco area. It's unclear if the Art Institute's classes at that location will continue—but Jeff Hamilton from CCSF told us that the community college will not be using the entire building, so it's possible the two schools could coexist in one space.

District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim showed enthusiasm for the solution. "I'm thrilled that our collective efforts have secured an interim home for the Civic Center campus, in the heart of the Civic Center/Tenderloin neighborhood and near critical public transportation," she said in the press release, which also included CCSF Chancellor Arthur Tyler's take.

“We are very excited about our new interim Civic Center facility on Market Street," he said. "The building was built as an educational space, is as close to the community as our original site and is nearly the same size. Additionally, we’ve begun planning for a restored permanent Civic Center campus at 750 Eddy Street."

It's unclear how long seismic repairs at the 104-year old building on Eddy Street will take. As of today no building permits have been filed with the city's planning department. "Preliminary planning has just begun," said Hamilton from CCSF. "However, we do not expect it to take six years."