Monday, October 12, 1998
Construction completed on UCLA’s new Gonda center
BUILDING: Neuroscience labs, office space, research facilities
provided by $45 million grant
By Dennis Lim
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA will soon have a new building, a new field of study and
55,000 square feet of extra laboratory and office space, thanks to
a donation from Leslie and Susan Gonda.
The Gondas, who donated $45 million to the building of the Gonda
(Goldschmeid) Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center, saw the
end result of the two-year effort on Oct. 1, when construction
ended on the medical facility.
The research center will house laboratory and office space for a
new genetics department and extra space for the neuroscience
department.
‘The project is done,’ said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of the UCLA
School of the Medicine.
‘It was done on budget and on time. It is starting to be
occupied now. Faculty and staff have already begun to move their
equipment into the new facility,’ Levey said.
However, minor improvements  such as the finishing of the
cafeteria and the adjustment of the handrails  have yet to be
finished. Levey said that he hopes to have those changes finished
by December.
ASUCLA has plans to open a cafe in the building, to better serve
the needs of the doctors and researchers who work there.
The Gonda facility, which cost $48 million to construct, only
cost the university $3 million because of the contribution the
Gondas made.
‘The building will be used to hold over 300 laboratories, a new
field of study, an extension of another department, a vivarium
 a hold for animals used in research  and 33 lab
units,’ said George Conde, the project manager for the Gonda
facility.
According to Levey, the Gondas’ $45 million contribution
constitutes the largest private charitable gift ever contributed by
a single donor in the history of the University of California.
The Gondas, who both survived the Holocaust, moved to Venezuela
after World War II, where they found success in various fields such
as banking, real estate and manufacturing. The two eventually moved
to the United States in 1963.
Construction on the facility began two years ago, in August of
1996. At first, it was known that funding for the project had come
from a private source, but the identity of the donor or donors was
kept secret. It was only later revealed that the Gondas had made
the large contribution necessary to begin construction on the
building.
The Gondas could not be reached for comment on the finishing of
the facility.
Students looking at the new building responded enthusiastically
to the construction of the new facility.
‘This is a really great accomplishment for the university,’ said
Daniel Martinez, a pre-med student. ‘To build something that will
do so much for our medical and research abilities for such a small
price is just incredible.’
‘There are a lot of people dying and hurting in this world
because they have cancer or some other disease and research like
the type that will come out of this building helps to solve that
problem,’ Martinez said.
The official opening of the building will come either in
mid-December 1998 or in April of 1999, depending on the
availability of the Gondas’ presence at the ceremony.
PATIL ARMENIAN
The Gonda (Goldschmeid) Neuroscience and Genetics Research
Center will open in January.
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