Southwestern College in Chula Vista has opened a renovated Landscape and Nursery Technology Center designed to meet the growing workforce demands of San Diego’s landscape and nursery technology industry. The $40 million facility, funded through Measure Z, represents a significant investment in the region’s green economy.
The center, completed in 2024 in collaboration with architecture firm Gensler, supports the college’s Landscape and Nursery Technology program, which dates back to 1974. The program serves approximately 100 students in a typical fall semester, the San Diego Business Journal reported.
According to Aspire’s 2026 Commercial Landscape Industry Report, 54% of contractors cited recruiting and retaining staff as a major business risk. SWC Assistant Superintendent Omar Gutierrez said the program aims to prepare students not just for their first job, but for long-term careers in the green industry.
‘We see Southwestern College as an important part of the talent pipeline for San Diego’s green industry,’ Gutierrez said. ‘Preparing skilled employees, future supervisors and managers, entrepreneurs, landscape designers and students who will continue their education toward becoming licensed landscape architects.’
The facility includes greenhouses for germination experiments, wet labs for botany and soil hydrology, and outdoor plots for testing paving materials and irrigation systems. Tom Heffernan, Education Leader at Gensler’s San Diego office, described the center as a ‘living lab’ designed to mirror the workplaces students will enter.
San Diego’s climate and year-round growing season make it a particularly strong market for landscape and horticulture professionals. Gutierrez noted that the region’s increasing focus on water conservation and sustainable landscaping has changed the skills employers need.
‘Drought conditions, the cost of water, changing regulations and the need to use our natural resources more responsibly have changed the skills employers need,’ Gutierrez said. Today’s workforce must understand efficient irrigation, water auditing, appropriate plant selection, soil health, integrated pest management, and sustainable landscape practices.
The center resides on the four-acre SWC Botanical Garden and also provides opportunities for existing workers to return to college to update their skills as industry standards evolve.
