Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary recently signed a purchase agreement in August to relocate from its current Mills Valley location near San Francisco to a location near the Ontario International Airport in southern California. The seminary is planning to fully complete its move in 2016.
The new location features a six-story building that takes up about 153,000 square feet, and another future building to be built adjacently will encompass about 75,000 square feet. The new facilities, therefore, would be almost double the size of the current facilities in Mill Valley, which is currently 121,000 square feet large.
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary plans to relocate to a new, six-story building located near the Ontario International Airport in southern California.
“Our new campus will be very different than our former campus. It is a much more efficient use of space and resources,” said Jeff Iorg, the president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. “A seminary of the 21st century needs space for students, faculty, library, worship, and administration. We will soon have state-of-the-art facilities for all these purposes, plus the most advanced educational technology available.”
The seminary’s board of trustees also decided to change the name of the school. The name Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention is currently awaiting approval from the convention.
“The name Golden Gate Seminary connects us with a beautiful bridge and rich heritage in the San Francisco Bay Area. Under that name, we have sent more than 8,000 graduates across America and around the world,” explained Iorg. “Our current name has served us well and helped define our identity. We have a growing sense, however, that bearing a name so closely associated with an iconic landmark won’t serve us as well when our primary campus is in the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles.”
However, students, faculty, and even neighbors of Golden Gate have expressed ambivalent emotions regarding the changes.
Max Stanebow, a student and admissions counselor, expressed excitement about the move. “It’s an opportunity to expand God’s kingdom throughout the world,” he told Marin News. “I’m confident in their leadership and direction.”
Lyndsey Legier, a student who recently graduated, told Marin News that for students who moved into San Francisco from out of state, this may not be the best news.
“It just sucks for my friends who are still here,” she said. “They have to figure out how to finish in two years or move to Southern California because we can’t afford to live here.”
Many residents who lived around the seminary said that they are afraid of what changes will come in to the land area once the seminary is gone.
“We recognize this is prime property, but we want to try to keep the character as much as possible,” Bruce Morse, a resident who lives near the seminary, told Marin News. “Ideally, we’d like to keep it exactly the way it is.”
The completion of the new facilities as well as moving into the new location will be “a slow process,” said Iorg.
“We will continue to operate as Golden Gate Seminary until June 2016. After that, if the SBC approves, we will build on the foundation of Golden Gate to establish our identity as Gateway Seminary.”
