Valencia planning new $12M-$15M building

Valencia Community College wants to construct a $12 million to $15 million building on its 180-acre west campus to house its Center for Global Languages.

Valencia President Sandy Shugart told the college’s board of trustees at a Feb. 15 meeting the college would have to self-finance the 60,000-square-foot building, since state school construction dollars are scarce.

But he said the new building would allow the college to stop leasing the 30,000-square-foot Sand Lake Center building, which houses the Center of Global Languages. The college pays about $700,000 annually to lease that.

The college also likely would use the new building to house technology support services, institutional research and a model shop for its architecture program. In addition, the new facility would provide some classroom space for Valencia’s growing student body. Valencia now has 41,178 students, up 7 percent from 38,478 students last year.

Valencia also has campuses in east Orlando, Osceola County and Winter Park, with another one planned for the Lake Nona area.

Doing the project now allows the college to take advantage of the current cheaper construction costs. The project would create 120 to 150 temporary construction jobs, said industry experts.

The board didn’t take formal action on the new facility at the meeting, but gave the nod to pursue the plan.

Valencia college officials are slated to present a financing plan for the building to the board and seek bids for the facility, which will likely be a design/build project, in March, said Keith Houck, the college’s vice president of administrative services. The project could be awarded as early as June.

Houck said the college likely would fund the new building via college capital improvement program dollars generated by a $6.76 per credit hour fee charged to students. That fee generates about $6.7 million annually.

For more information Contact: Valencia Community College’s office of procurement at (407) 582-5532 or valenciaprocurement@valenciacc.edu Requests for bids: www.valenciacc.edu/procurement/bids.cfm

Read more: Valencia planning new $12M-$15M building | Orlando Business Journal