 "Photo: Dan Handing")
A proposal to acquire ownership of the vacant Circuit City that sits adjacent to STLCC-Florissant Valley is before the Board of Trustees.
It is an effort to further expand the campus and economic progression within the North County area according to Roderick Nunn, vice chancellor of the Board of Trustees.
“The former Circuit City building has been on the market for two years and is sought after for the use of a job training center for Florissant Valley and other STLCC students,” says Marcia Pfeiffer, president of Florissant Valley.
As of Jan. 11 STLCC had received $3.2 million in grants for green job training initiatives recorded by the St. Charles County Business Record.
“We are creating an energy technician program for energy efficiency,” said Nunn. “We’ve got grant money to support equipment and the curriculum development. What we don’t have is any grant money for bricks and matter facility.”
“The training center will focus on students ages 25-60 in workforce development,” said Nunn.
“It may be used for existing lab programs,” said Pfeiffer.
“Most of the folks are people who are coming back [to school] to develop skills and want to develop improving upon skills,” said Pfeiffer. “There may be programming that would be offered there that would appeal to a wide range of individuals.”
Workforce and Community Development (WCD) is a service of STLCC intended to help students and businesses become successful in attaining work.
Within the WCD, Boeing has an accelerated job program for positions of sheet metal candidates as mentioned at http://stlcc.edu.
“I think, one of the things I know that we are giving consideration to, is looking in the direction of how to enhance green jobs or construction. This would offer students at Meramec that are into architecture or interior design.” said Pfeiffer.
Not only did Pfeiffer say this expansion would show more strength of the presence of the campus, she said it would also help clear congested class space and later allow for an increase in enrollment.
While Florissant Valley seeks to increase their facilities and programs, other campuses such as Meramec and Forest Park are doing the opposite. In the beginning of the spring semester, the Board of Trustees voted for Meramec and Forest Park to cut child care programs, and Meramec canceling four sports for monetary purposes.
The purchasing of the Circuit City cost $2 million with $100 per square foot, yet Pfeiffer believes that the purchase of the building is a greater asset than it is liability for the college.
“Our projection is that we would get a return on our investment relatively quickly,” Pfeiffer said. “It would be a wonderful investment to the college.”
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