The groundbreaking for the nation's largest blood processing center, to be built at Cal Poly Pomona, won't involve any golden shovels.

It won't involve the campus ground where construction will begin, either.

"It will be a CD-Rom presentation, a virtual fly-through of the building," said Jeff Meyer, director of the new regional headquarters project, also called the Red Cross SoCal Project. "We thought this would be more fun than shoveling dirt on the ground."

On June 16, the American Red Cross will host a "virtual groundbreaking" of the new Southern California Regional Headquarters - not at its Cal Poly Pomona site - but at the current Red Cross Blood Services Region Headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

In addition to the "virtual" computer tour, a 6-foot-by-6-foot architectural model of the facility will also be exhibited, Meyer said.

According to Cal Poly Pomona officials, a traditional groundbreaking at the university's Innovation Village will take place later this year.

"We haven't set a date yet, we're doing some logistics with construction timelines," said Ron Fremont, associate vice president of university relations. "But the groundbreaking will happen this fall. There will be an event on campus."

The June 16 groundbreaking event will feature speakers, including Cal Poly Pomona President Bob Suzuki, Jay Olmstead, American Red Cross Southern California Blood Services Region CEO and American National Red Cross President and CEO Marsha Johnson Evans.

"That was another reason we are having the groundbreaking in Los Angeles since Marty (Evans) will be in the region and rather than shuttle her around, we wanted to (facilitate) her visit," Meyer said. "This is also where the majority of the players are and we wanted to get major media exposure."

The Red Cross's new Southern California Regional Headquarters will be built on 15 acres at Cal Poly's Innovation Village technology park and will cost $41.6 million. The project is being fully funded by the Red Cross and is slated for a December 2004 opening.

Officials said the building will include a state-of-the-art blood center, laboratory, donor room and warehouse for materials, management and administrative offices.

The headquarters are expected to process some 800,000 units of blood - approximately 12 percent of the Red Cross total. Employees in the Los Angeles and Orange County Red Cross processing centers would transfer to the new location, and 100 new jobs would be generated for the Pomona area, according to Red Cross officials.