Building a Gateway Building

Want to watch $30 million being spent on the new Kean-Ocean Gateway Building at Ocean County College?

Pictures showing the progress of construction of the 5-story building that will serve students working for at Kean University at the Toms River campus are posted on the OCC Web site, www.ocean.edu.

 “It looks like a bank vault,’’ said Dr. Richard Parrish, vice president of planning and administration, pointing to the foundation of the building. “It has to support a 5-story building,’’ he said. The Web site will be updated to show the course of construction of the building, he explained. The building is scheduled for completion by Dec. 31, 2012.

Kean University is , with the other half split between OCC and Ocean County.

It will include 25 classrooms, a 225-seat lecture hall, two 26-seat conference rooms, a 50-seat multipurpose room, four seminar rooms, a graphic design studio, offices for 56 faculty members and an administrative office suite, and a physical education-nursing demonstration room.

Parrish said permits are being obtained for work on the new combined , a $6.5 million project.

Work on the new is nearly completed, according to Trustee Linda Novak.

OCC President Dr. Jon Larson said the soccer facilities will be the best in the state, likely venues for statewide competition.