The Science I Building, located on the south side of California State University, Stanislaus campus, next to the Nora and Hashem Naraghi Hall of Science and the bookstore, is nearing the end of construction.
The $15,936,000 project was started on Jan. 3, 2012, and is estimated to be completed on Nov. 2.
The two-floor building has an estimated 50,000 square feet, with 25,000 square feet on each floor.
“Everything  is going real well,” Kim Hansen, Superintendent for Acme construction, said.
“People who have come in and looked in the inside seem to have been very pleased.”
According to Melody Maffei, Interim Associate Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities Management, the construction work is on schedule, and the contractor will turn the building over to the university on Nov. 2.
During the months of November and December, equipment and furnishings will be installed, and occupants will move into the new space in January, just in time for Spring semester classes.
The building will be housing Mathematics and Nursing departments.
Science Building 1 was first built in 1972, and was in need of remodeling and updating. The building will contain a total of eight classrooms and an open computer lab, with several new features that have been added to the building as well.
“The construction includes state of the art nursing labs, solar panels across the entire roof and seismic strengthening,” Maffei said.
Seismic strengthening is also known as seismic retrofit. According to seismicassociation.org, a seismic retrofit is the addition of one or more structural enhancements that will help keep a building, its workers, production equipment and inventory safe from the effects of seismic activity that occur suddenly or over time.
This will keep our building safe if any seismic activity occurs.
Many students are excited to see the new building.
“When I heard about the new building and that it was going to be for nursing school, I was like, sweet,” Iris Guerra (junior, Pre-Nursing) said. “It’s really nice that now we will actually have a building.”
The construction site is still gated, but the black material that covered most of the view has been slightly removed.
The benches and trash cans placed in front are symbols of what appears to be the end of the year-long construction.
“Everything’s coming together nicely,” Hansen said.