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Eastern Gateway Enrollment Growth Leads it Downtown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – By August, a few new faces are likely to be seen downtown as Eastern Gateway Community College accelerates its efforts to renovate space in the Plaza Parking Deck in time for the fall semester.
At a press event Wednesday, Eastern Gateway President Laura Meeks announced that the college selected the parking/office complex at 53 S. Champion St. to house its Valley Center because the space was available and in the downtown, and students and faculty could park close by.
"We are entering into a 20-year agreement with our new partners," Meeks told reporters, city officials and members of the education community. The resurgence of the downtown makes it the perfect place to relocate the junior college and see it grow, she said.
"Why wouldn't we want to be in downtown Youngstown with that kind of action going around?" she said. "Students like action."
Eastern Gateway is partnered with Higher Education Partners, a for-profit company based in New Bedford, Mass., to form HEP-EGCC Ohio LLC. Under terms of their agreement, HEP is responsible for the build-out of the project as well as maintaining and operating the building.
Eastern Gateway is responsible for academic decisions such as the design, development and adoption of academic programs, student admission and selection of faculty and staff.
They will jointly develop marketing plans for the community college. HEP is committed to funding 105% of the direct expenses Eastern Gateway incurs for the Valley Center project. Higher Education Partners would recover its investment and earn a 15% service fee based on net revenues that result from Valley Center operations.
The new space will be 30,000 square feet, reports architect Ray Jaminet, whose company was selected to lead the renovation project. "We're trying to reuse as much as we can because of the time frame," he said.
The first quadrant of the project is expected to be open in time for the fall semester, Meeks said. The initial phase consists of eight classrooms and computer labs equipped with audio-visual materials, a wireless network and "smart" boards.
A second quadrant will contain student service offices as well as limited administration offices. Also, a health lab with a prep area and a temporary bookstore will be in the first phase of renovation.
By next spring, the EGCC's Valley Center plans to build an emporium lab for developmental course work in mathematics and English as well as open computer space. Preliminary plans also call for a chemistry lab, a biology lab, a nursing/health high-technology lab and a lecture hall.
The project will occupy space vacated by the Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership, or MyCAP, and is expected to cost about $1.5 million.
Eastern Gateway and HEP signed a lease agreement with USA Parking to occupy the space, Meeks reported. USA Parking, owned by Cleveland businessman Lou Frangos, recently settled a dispute with its lenders regarding the parking deck and reassumed control of the building. Last year, lenders foreclosed on the Plaza deck and a parking lot along Commerce Street owned by Frangos and USA.
Moreover, the city last year issued citations to USA Parking because of visible structural problems at the Plaza deck.
Meeks says that one provision in the new lease is that USA Parking correct the problems in the deck, such as exposed rebar and cracked concrete beams still supported by metal floor jacks. Also, she said, the Ohio attorney general's office, having reviewed both the lease and the agreement, assured Eastern Gateway officials that the deal is solid.
"I'm very confident that we are absolutely protected," she said. "It's a very tight lease."
Eastern Gateway first opened its Valley Center in offices in Northside Medical Center, but relocated after Community Health Systems Inc. purchased the hospital, which now operates as part of ValleyCare Health System of Ohio. It moved to the fourth floor of Choffin Career and Technical Center in Youngstown but outgrew that space.
Michael Perick, CEO of Higher Education Partners, described his company as sort of a "venture capital" firm for community colleges. "We're very excited to make an investment into the future of Youngstown," he said. "There's no better investment than to make it in the young men and women who will be training for careers and jobs under Dr. Meeks."
This is Higher Education Partners' second venture in Ohio. The organization earlier reached a similar arrangement with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.
Petrick said that Eastern Gateway is in growth mode, noting it had the fastest-growing enrollment among colleges and universities in the region.
"We also have to look at the future of our economy," he said. "It's hard to go a week without someone talking about the importance of training our young men and women and some of our older adults who need to be retrained for careers. Community colleges are the epicenter of that."
Eastern Gateway continues to hold classes at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, Canfield, the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center, Lisbon, and the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center as well as in the Atrium building in downtown Warren.
The college's enrollment in the region has grown from 174 in 2009 to 813 this past spring, Meeks said. She expects enrollment to continue to grow and perhaps double every year.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.