NOVA Woodbridge Campus renovation will add new classrooms, more space, modern feel

WOODBRIDGE — A $36 million renovation of Northern Virginia Community College’s Woodbridge campus is expected to start in fall 2020. The Seefeldt Building will be updated to include centralized student services, new classroom spaces, and updated infrastructure.

The renovation, which will take approximately 18-24 months, will provide badly-needed updates and changes to the nearly 50-year-old building.

The Seefeldt Building is the campus’ main instructional and administrative building, and the majority of classrooms are located there. With it being out of commission, space is going to be a bit tight.

Students will be moved into 60,000 to 70,000 square feet of temporary trailer space. Student numbers will also be doubled in other academic buildings.

“The students and faculty are really entitled to this renovation,” Dr. Sam Hill, Woodbridge campus provost, told Potomac Local. “The building is almost 50 years old. We are long overdue for facilities that really support instruction as it needs to be delivered today.”

The renovations will fulfill several goals.

The first is ease of getting around the building. All student services and enrollment services will be centralized in the updated building. As it currently stands, a new student enters the second level of the building for student services, then has to go to the fourth floor for the testing center. The business office is in a different location, as is parking services and financial aid.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we have students that come in and then — out of frustration when they can’t find where they’re supposed to be going — leave,” said Hill. “We’re bringing all of those services into one location, so it can be one stop.”

Another anticipated goal is improving and increasing classroom space. Science lab space will be increased. Additional classrooms will be added for new programs that are taking off on the NOVA campus, such as the film and cinema program.

The building’s infrastructure, including HVAC and windows, will be updated and include energy-efficient components. New windows will be added to increase the amount of natural light that enters the building.

New space to support extracurricular student life is also planned.

“Times have changed,” said Hill. “Early community colleges in Virginia served primarily working adults. They would come to class and leave. But we’re starting to attract a younger student body and they want that campus life. In addition to attending class, they want to be able to have a campus life, socialize, and spend time on campus. We want to provide space for those activities.”

The planned renovation of the Seefeldt Building comes after the long-planned addition of an 84,000 square-foot academic building, dubbed Phase III, opened in 2013. In 2016, a $29 million, 55,000 square-foot workforce education center opened on the campus. 

These renovations are needed to keep up with many of the newer Prince William County Public Schools that have opened in recent years.

“There are high schools that are much newer than us,” he said. “When you think of students graduating from high school and coming to NOVA for higher education — in many cases, they are going into facilities that are not as modern as the high schools they left behind.”

“That’s not the right environment for students and it doesn’t reflect well on us — as a college or as an institution of higher education,” adds Hill. 

The campus is located at 2645 College Drive in Woodbridge. Nearby, a new Brickyard Co-Work Center is slated to open later this year after the Prince William County Board of Supervisors granted the firm $400,000 to open the center in an effort to spur economic development in the area.