Motlow expansion on track for fall completion
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‘Everything is going along as expected,’ said McMinnville center director Melody Edmonds. ‘We are going to be ready to go in the fall of 2008.’
The expansion project will more than double the size of Motlow. The current facility is 17,000 square feet. The expansion will add roughly another 20,000 square feet.
The addition is being built onto the front of the school. It will include four high-tech classrooms, a science lab, nursing lab and computer lab, a library, and administrative and faculty space. Two of the classrooms will be connected by a partition which can be moved to create a large gathering room.
The new space will enable the college to expand existing programs and also seek new programs to broaden local opportunities for education and job training.
‘We’re very excited,’ said Edmonds. ‘We will be able to offer nursing for the very first time here in the fall because of the expansion. Students can get their RN degree right here.’
Plans for the area still include moving the water tank and the driver’s testing center. That will clear up some of the clutter in front of the college and $700,000 will be used to construct a first-rate entrance.
Although the college has not estimated how many more students it will be able to handle once the expansion is complete, plans are to fill every room and every new classroom with students.
‘This is pretty big stuff for McMinnville,’ said Edmonds. ‘We will be doubling in size. Whatever it will hold, we want to fill it up.’