Douglas College opens new satellite campus in New Westminster

Douglas College Anvil Office Tower in New Westminster. (Google Maps)

Students and faculty with Douglas College are getting settled into their new satellite campus in downtown New Westminster.

The post-secondary institution took over 68,000 sq. ft. of space within four floors of the Anvil Office Tower at 777 Columbia Street, just across from SkyTrain’s New Westminster Station.

The new space for the college includes 21 classrooms and student collaboration areas to accommodate the new home of most of the institution’s commerce and business administration programs, including accounting, business administration, finance, hospitality, management, and office administration.

It will accommodate approximately 1,600 students once the transition to the tower is fully complete.

This satellite campus is just two blocks from Douglas College’s main campus at 700 Royal Avenue, and the new space alleviates pressure due to a 17% growth in student enrolment over the last 10 years.

“The Anvil Office Tower expansion makes quality post-secondary education even more accessible for our students,” said Judy Darcy, MLA for New Westminster, in a statement.

“Added seats and learning opportunities in such a convenient, central location will draw students from throughout the province, as well as help local students keep studying and working in the community they love.”

Construction of Anvil Office Tower was built and funded by the City of New Westminster, and the complex was sold to an investment firm in the spring of 2014 just months before it reached completion.

The nine-storey office tower has 137,000 sq. ft. of office space, which sits on top of the Anvil Centre, an 84,000-sq-ft civic facility operated by the municipal government.

The Anvil Centre includes conference and meeting facilities, a flexible 350-seat non-proscenium theatre, civic art gallery, City Museum and Archives, Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Tourism New Westminster’s visitor information desk, and restaurant and retail.

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