By the end of summer, South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado will have a quad.
According to Heath Waldrop, a spokesman for the college, the quad has been in the long-term plans of the college for many years.
“Typically when you see a university, you see a quad or a green space or lawn,” Waldrop said. “We didn’t have anything like that by the nature of how we grew.”
The $700,000 project, officially titled the William R. & Cacilia Howard Heritage Plaza, was funded entirely through private donations, Waldrop said. The “heritage” in the name comes from the idea that many former institutions, such as El Dorado High School, have used the grounds and buildings that the college has occupied since 1992.
It broke ground in late March following the deconstruction of a parking lot that sat on the site. It’s expected to be completed by late August or early September.
“It’ll have a fountain in the center; we’ll have trees brought in and benches,” Waldrop said. “What we had done initially before actually setting the plans into motion was we got opinions from the student body as well as employees for what things were important to see in a space like that.”
Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects of Little Rock designed the plaza; GAG Builders Inc. of Cabot is the contractor.
