Cuesta College planning to build new South SLO County campus in old Arroyo Grande pharmacy
Dave Alley
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (KEYT) – Cuesta College is planning to build a long-envisioned new campus in South San Luis Obispo County at the site of a now-closed Arroyo Grande pharmacy.
“We are very excited that we have had the opportunity to acquire the former Rite Aid property at 1650 Grand Avenue in Arroyo Grande,” said Dr. Jill Stearns, Cuesta College Superintendent/President. “It really appears to be not only a location, but a building that is going to very well align with the needs of Cuesta College as we design instruction for our South County.”
The site of the property is at the southeast corner of Grand Avenue and Oak Park Boulevard, one of the busiest intersections located within the Five Cities.
The Rite Aid pharmacy closed last summer as part of the national chain’s bankruptcy process, which forced the company to shut down all of its more 1,000 stores across the country.
Cuesta College recently closed escrow on the $6.75 million property and now must go through an approval process with the City of Arroyo Grande before construction can begin.
“We are really looking forward to partnering with the city, and that ensuring that our overall design fits with their planning, and within what already exists,” said Stearns. “We have already had our team in the space assessing, taking a look at what exists. We are now in the process of identifying a construction and project manager for that and then we will be identifying an architect. The next step in our process with the City of Arroyo Grande is providing a rendering of the external facade, so that we can take that for their review and consideration before any further planning.”
According to Stearns, a large amount of the college’s students live in the South County, which has made the school’s goal of opening a permanent campus a longtime priority.
“Nearly 25% of our students are coming from South County, and so we already are serving a significant number of students from that area, and have had ongoing concerns about those who we aren’t serving,” said Stearns. “Certainly that commute is a challenge. Our students who rely on public transportation, we provide bus passes for them, but it’s not easy to navigate from South County to our San Luis Obispo campus, which is outside of the main part of San Luis Obispo, and so this will certainly provide more local access for South County residents, not only to classes, but to things like counseling and other supportive services, including basic needs that are essential in the student’s journey and their success.”
The vision for the property is to convert the existing 16,320 square foot building into the new campus, rather than demolishing the structure and build something entirely new.
“The building is a perfect shell with four four solid walls and not a lot of structure inside of that,” said Stearns. “It’s really well suited for redesign. Our Board of Trustees has made it very clear that they want this South County campus to have the same standards that our North County campus and San Luis Obispo campuses have. The building will not only be beautiful, it will also be loaded with technology and very forward thinking in the planning and design. We anticipate that we will have four classrooms of varying types that will allow for flexibility. We will have gathering and study space for students. We will have offices to be able to provide services to students all within that existing footprint.”
Stearns is hopeful the new campus will be open for classes by January 2029.
“It’s incredible excitement,” said Stearns. “It is all about expanding opportunity, and in particular, opportunity that aligns with the needs and desires of our South County residents. We really want to bring to them the opportunity to access instruction, access services across the day and into the evening, so this is what we are excited to be able to bring to the South County.”
Cuesta College has been exploring the possibility of opening a South County campus on the planned Dana Reserve development in Nipomo.
Stearns indicated even with the new Arroyo Grande campus now in the works, the potential Dana Reserve campus could also come to fruition at some point in the future.
“This is very much the new the new model,” said Stearns. “Dana Reserve is still in our long term planning, and we are still considering the possibility of that. If the success of this new site in Arroyo Grande is what we envision it to be, we will need both to really meet the needs of our South County community.”
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