Partnerships touted at new BC3 site
HERMITAGE, Mercer County — While construction already started on a significant expansion of Butler County Community College's campus at LindenPointe here, officials Wednesday took the time to celebrate the partnerships that made it possible.
The college, municipal governments in Hermitage and Youngstown, Ohio, and federal agencies all played a part in developing BC3 @ LindenPointe and the Technology Center of Excellence, and so each got a hand on one of the shovels at the official groundbreaking ceremony.
"Our success often hinges on our wonderful collaborations," said BC3 President Nick Neupauer.
The land, which is a former airport, is now growing with businesses.
The projects touted Wednesday involve two buildings. The first is an expansion of the BC3 building that will triple the size. The second builds from scratch a center for Hermitage that will include work force development and business incubator.
In the past, the college leased space for classes on the bottom floor of an 8,000-square-foot-building. Now the BC3 Education Foundation will buy the building and expand it to 20,000 square feet. The college will then lease the space from the foundation. The cost of the BC3 portion is $2.9 million.
The new space will offer five more classrooms, two computer labs, a science lab and a student lounge. It will be ready for students in January.
Neupauer said this investment supplements the college's plan to be the top higher education institution in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Just this semester, enrollment at the campus is up 48 percent. The college serves 350 Mercer County residents.
The is the first time that the foundation has built and owned a building outside of Butler County, said Ruth Purcell, director of the foundation.
But, erasing county and municipal borders was a theme of the day, which was kicked off by Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams.
Too often communities let lines on a map define and divide them, he said.
"We will rise and fall as a region," Williams said.
The college's expansion and the creation of the technology center will create an educated work force that will benefit his city too, he said.
"If it's good for Western Pennsylvania, it's good for northeastern Ohio," he said.
Other sections of the United States will now look to the results of this project as an example of intergovernmental cooperation, said John Fernandez, assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
The federal government kicked in $4.2 million and the state contributed another $1.24 million for the technology center.
Thomas J. Keller Architects of Canfield, Ohio, designed the BC3 building. Risen Construction will build the facility.
BC3 began serving students in Mercer County in 1997 at Mercer High School and at the Mercer County Career and Technical School. The LindenPointe campus opened in 2005.
"We believe we'll become one of the gems of this region," Purcell said.
