Development 90’s

In the early 1990’s the City Colleges of Chicago perceived a need for a state of the art facility to provide technical training to meet the workforce needs of the 21 st century. An advisory committee of neighborhood leaders and heads of community-based organizations aided in the development of the concept and its supporting facility. The facility was to be known as the Arturo Velasquez West Side Technical Institute.

Completion 1995

The district obtained state funds to purchase land at 28th and Western and the Board of Trustees approved the facility design and academic programs with the assurance that the workforce needs of employers and the economic needs of Chicago students would be met. To prepare for potential changes in technology and labor needs the building design included large unfinished areas as “surge spaces”. New programs now utilize these spaces.