The Forum

Throughout the semester, Florissant Valley’s construction sites have been rapidly evolving. At the beginning of the semester, the large stretches of building area at the front of the campus were simple dirt fields segmented from public spaces for preliminary terrain work. Now, however, large structures of brick and steel extend above passersby as cranes lift material to the new frontiers of the buildings. It would be a severe understatement to say that the raising of Flo Valley’s two new installations, the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences and the Advanced Manufacturing Buildings, has commenced with great speed. 

As previously covered in The Forum, the Florissant Valley campus’ new additions are estimated to be completed in December 2024 for a total price tag of roughly $123 million. 

Most of the front parking lots of the campus are occupied by construction, with much of the former sea of parking spaces permanently removed. The occupied parking lots are P-1 through P-4, P-6 through P-9, and outlying parking lots P-16 and P-17. Additionally, major pedestrian walkways are now fenced off and inaccessible. Perhaps most notably, the stairway that connects parking lots P-6 through P-10 in front of the PE Building, P-10 still being open, to the entry loop near the Administration Building is closed, forcing students to take an alternate, often much longer, route; furthermore, the small walkway that directly connects the south Communications Building entrance to the north Social Sciences Building entrance is entirely closed from both the outside and inside of these buildings. 

While these changes may continue to affect students the STLCC administration views these sacrifices as undoubtedly worth it. These buildings promise state-of-the-art classrooms that will render those of our current buildings, all roughly 60 years old, obsolete.