Under the warm May sun, students, faculty and city officials gathered Tuesday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony of Santa Fe College’s new automotive technology training center.
Graduates of the automotive technology service program spoke about their experiences, expressing how the facility would enhance students’ foundation as they go through the program.
The new facility is at the college’s Blount Center in downtown Gainesville, which is where the college hosts classes for business programs and information technology education students.
The new 17,200-square-foot facility is meant to increase the current associate’s degree program capacity and can serve up to 60 students per semester, according to Santa Fe College’s website.
This is an expansion to the college’s already existing Northwest Campus, it serves the associate’s degree and certificate programs.
The center will have classrooms and hands-on training bays so automotive technology service students can learn to work on and repair cars.
Samantha Casali, a 25-year-old graduate of the automotive technology program, works for Parks Ford of Gainesville.
Casali said the new facility will offer opportunities to better prepare incoming students for the workforce.
“It’s really exciting to see how much they’re putting into the young people to be successful in this trade,” she said.
Casali works with many of the program’s students through her dealership’s partnership with the college.
Associate degree graduates of the automotive service management technology program have a 100% job placement rate, according to Santa Fe College.
Faculty and staff worked with industry professionals to design the program addition, Santa Fe College President Paul Broadie said, and they presented it to city officials for approval and funding.
He said it’s an enhancement to the existing program.
“It’s our next step in our commitment to the community and our commitment to changing people’s lives,” Broadie said. “We want to position our students for the opportunity to take advantage of those lucrative careers in the automotive industry.”
Teddy Cañizares, an instructor in the automotive service technology department, said professors are also excited about the facility and what it provides for the students. The new facility is more spacious and comfortable, he added.
Classrooms will be directly connected to hands-on teaching bays, allowing students to experience what they learned in the classroom in real time. Alongside parts and tools to work on vehicles, the teaching bays will have vehicle repair lifts and virtual simulators.
Cañizares has been teaching since January. He is most excited to see students learn and grow.
“I fell in love with seeing the aspect of the students going, ‘Oh, I understand it,’” he said. “The light bulb goes off in them, and it’s very satisfying to see that.”
In addition to the automotive program facility, the Blount Center’s construction will connect sidewalks to the rail trail, surrounding neighborhoods and through the property. Added green spaces will create open areas for students.
The extension will be constructed on the former location of Mauldin’s Auto Glass.
The former Church of God, which moved locations in 2024, will be demolished to make room for the facility. Santa Fe plans to add a plaque honoring the church and its history.
Lisa Brosky, Santa Fe’s associate vice president of marketing and communications, said construction won’t impact traffic despite the center’s location near West University Avenue.
“It is off those main roads, so it shouldn’t affect traffic at all,” she said. “It backs up to a neighborhood, so they’re doing everything they can to mitigate any kind of sound or any impact on our neighbors.”
She said the construction of a new center is necessary because the current facility at the Northwest Campus isn’t expansive enough to meet current-day automotive needs.
The facility is expected to open to students in Fall 2027.
Contact Tess Lippincott at tlippincott@alligator.org. Follow her on X @tesslippincott.
Tess Lippincott is a third-year journalism major, spanish minor, and meteorology and climatology certificate student. This is Tess' first semester at the Alligator and first time on the university desk. She also works as a deputy editor for WUFT-FM. In her free time, Tess loves playing pickleball, running, and reading. If she's not working you can find her with her roommates and friends.
