UNELA FACILITIES
· UNELA is located one block east of the Hospital "Clínica Bíblica" – the largest Evangelical hospital in Central America (founded by the Latin America Mission, LAM) – about six blocks south of the center of San José, the nation's capital. The neighborhood around UNELA is largely a commercial zone with stores, restaurants, schools, medical and legal offices, drug stores, government buildings, public parking lots, etc.
· The original building was built, owned and operated by the LAM from the 1940s until the mid-1970s. It housed the Latin American Biblical Seminary (LABS), which became an autonomous entity of service within the Community of Latin American Evangelical Ministries (known as CLAME in Spanish) in the early 1970s. At that time, the LABS became independent of the LAM with its own Board of Directors. After the LABS built a new campus in 1998, the institution moved from this facility and the building was offered for sale.
The Board of Directors of IMDELA-UNELA purchased the building from the LABS in January 2000 and UNELA moved into the new facility in February; classes began in the new building in March 2000.
· The new UNELA facility has three floors and houses a large chapel (seating about 200 people), six large classrooms (seating about 25 students each), administrative and academic offices, a library (seating about 50 students), a dining room (seating about 100 people), three guest rooms with private bathrooms for visiting dignitaries, a dormitory (housing about 50 students, two per room), an apartment for the dormitory supervisor, storage areas, and an enclosed parking area for about six vehicles.
· The appraised value of the UNELA facility, according to one of Costa Rica’s leading banking institutions, was about US$1,250,000 as of October 1998.
· The facility is located next-door to the three-story CECOMM building that houses a variety of Evangelical organizations, including the former offices and classrooms of IMDELA-UNELA. One-fourth of the CECOMM building is owned by IMDELA-UNELA. The rest of the building houses the offices of the Latin American Mission (LAM), Christian Reformed World Mission (CRWM) and the Costa Rican Missionary Federation (FEDEMEC).
BELOW ARE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF THE UNELA BUILDING
Garden at entrance to the UNELA building
View of garden, offices and classrooms from 2nd floor
Sample classroom, professor and students (1st floor)
Sample classroom on 2nd floor
View of future Library Reading Room
View of future main Library: we need bookshelves and more books!
Partial view of Chapel
Stairs from 1st floor to Chapel -- Come back and see us soon!