Campus prepares to open Sage Hall after nearly three years of construction

Sage Hall reaches its final stages of construction as it prepares to welcome five departments into the building. (Daisy Tapia for The Star)

Built to replace aging buildings in the center of campus, five departments are going to be housed in a new state-of-the-art facility to greet students in the spring. 

By: Cassandra Jones, Staff Writer

After approximately two years of construction, Sage Hall plans to open its doors in the spring with more than five departments moving into the new facility.

“It’s going to be an absolutely amazing, beautiful building.” Valley College President Barry Gribbons said. “[The college is] planning on it being used for instruction in the spring semester, but we don’t have a written schedule yet.”

The five departments headed to the 60,931-square-foot facility in the spring include English, ESL, communication studies, world languages and technology.

Sage Hall, first called Academic Building 2, sits off the main quad on the west side of campus, between the library and the music building. 

The $60.5 million project is still listed as “in progress,” with substantial completion set for 2026, according to Stelic, the firm that manages the construction schedule for builder PCL Construction. Crews broke ground on April 22, 2024. At the ceremony, Gribbons said the building has “modern, technologically-enabled learning environments.”

Plans include computer labs, robotics, machine shop, technology center and electronics labs, a media room and shared spaces for students and faculty, according to Gribbons. 

Classrooms will also have movable desks so instructors can switch between lectures and group work, and the rooms can be rearranged for different teaching styles. Faculty offices will all be on the same floor so instructors can work together and share resources.

Sage Hall’s construction proceeding on the northwest side of campus on Fulton Ave. on Sep. 28. It is set to house several of the campus’s old programs as well as serving as a cybersecurity hub. (Lio Godinez for The Star)

BSU President Janet Owusu says “I'm really excited for the opening of Sage hall. It's really nice. I'm hoping it has a lot of comfortable seating and charging stations. I'm always excited to see our campus expanding.”

Sage Hall will take the place of three of the campus’s oldest classroom buildings. All three sit right next to the main quad on the west side of campus: humanities, foreign language, and engineering.

These programs now meet in older buildings across campus. Sage Hall will replace three of those aging buildings, according to PCL Construction.

Once those programs move into Sage Hall, the three buildings from the 1950s

will be torn down, according to BuildLACCD planning documents. 

That work is expected to start in late 2027, after each department finishes moving into Sage Hall. Until then, classes will keep meeting in the old buildings. That timing lines up with the schedule Gribbons gave for classes starting in Sage Hall in the spring semester.

Sage Hall completes a trio of buildings that have opened at Valley over the last twelve months, which include the newly opened Valley Academic Hall and the VACC. 

“This is the last of our three major new buildings,” Gribbons said. “So it kind of completes the campus in many ways.”