The old UC Riverside Extension building is coming down to make way for a new clean technology park.

Demolition began in November of the former UCR Extension Center on University Avenue, with the parking garage torn down over the course of a month.

Following some cleanup work at the 3.44-acre site, demolition of the building will begin early next year and is expected to be completed by summer, said Daneca Stevens, a project manager with Planning, Design, and Construction.

Once the site is cleared and graded, work will follow on the Opportunities to Advance Sustainability, Innovation, and Social Inclusion, or OASIS, park, a 50,000-square-foot facility that will include research, classroom, office, and incubator space for local startups. OASIS is expected to be completed by 2026.

UCR bought the property, previously a Holiday Inn hotel, in 1992 and converted it for UCR Extension use. It was originally built in 1968 and expanded with a garage and additional hotel space in 1985.

A demolition crew used four large excavators to break off pieces of the concrete two-and-a-half level, 54,000-square-foot parking garage and dump them on the ground. They then sifted and sorted through the debris, diverting materials to recycling or landfills. About 200 truckloads of debris were hauled away.

A similar process will be used to take down the five-story, 123,657-square-foot building, which will take longer, Stevens said.

UCR Extension formally moved out of the building to its new leased space at University Village in 2022 but had effectively stopped working there in March 2020 when the pandemic began and it shifted to remote work and programs, said Kevin Vaughn, dean of UCR Extension.

Extension staff and alumni have great memories of the building over its decades of use, Vaughn said. As a 1960s-era former hotel, it had its quirks and charms such as a bathroom in every office and a top floor still used as hotel space to host visiting scholars and international student delegations.

The university made the top floor available as free housing for healthcare workers working on the front lines in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Inland area in April 2020.

The new OASIS park will include office and classroom space for UCR Extension. It will also retain space at University Village, which makes better sense for the program, Vaughn said.

“We’re very excited about the evolution of the property and what’s going to be there in the future,” he said. “Being an anchor tenant within OASIS will be a great opportunity for UCR Extension.”