City Colleges of Chicago serve students from all corners of the city with a competitive, quality education curriculum. Since 1972 - the year when City Colleges first asked the Public Building Commission to evaluate the condition of its facilities in order to determine infrastructure needs - the PBC has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with City Colleges of Chicago.
Once the need to build new facilities was established, City Colleges commissioned the PBC to provide construction services. By 1996, the PBC had built 12 City College facilities as part of its $44 million Capital Improvement Program, which is scheduled to be completed in 2000.
Today, the PBC still works closely with City Colleges to maintain and improve its facilities. Part of the Capital Improvement Program includes air conditioning replacements, roof renovations, Life Safety and Americans with Disabilities Act modifications, lab renovations and some new construction and exterior work.
The Public Building Commission also performs periodic upgrades and provides construction services for all City College facilities. In the spring of 1998, for example, the PBC completed a major rehabilitation of roofs for nine buildings, including the Central Administration Building, Daley College, Olive-Harvey College, Malcolm X College, Truman College, Lakeview Learning Center, Dawson Technical Institute, West Side Learning Center, and Harold Washington College.
Also in 1999, the Public Building Commission completed a new garage for students and faculty of Wright College. The parking garage eliminates the college's expenses for rented parking spaces and helps relieve congested parking in the surrounding neighborhood. The seven-story structure provides parking for 1,200 cars.
The range of capabilities involved in the successful Public Building Commission-City Colleges partnership also has included repairs to the pedestrian bridge that leads to Daley College’s parking lot; construction of a new cadaver laboratory at Kennedy-King College; and updating the elevators and escalators at Harold Washington College.