initial plans of constructing a school building on land donated by san jose state fell through. instead, after briefly being split between three sites, the school moved in october 2002 to a converted fitness center, and in december 2005 to the former building of hester elementary school, on the alameda. the building was gutted to create a "great area" and other new spaces; downtown college prep students and their math teacher assisted the architect, bill gould, in laying out the partitions for the interior rebuilding.