Columbus State Community College to build new academic building

Columbus State Community College will be constructing a new academic building on campus to accommodate the expanding needs of the Automotive Technology department. The new building will be customized to directly meet the needs of the department’s automotive industry workforce training, and will be located next to the core campus’ parking garage to house the department’s fleet of vehicles.

According to an article on Columbus State Community College’s website, Kieran Sherry, who serves as the executive director of the college’s Planning, Design, and Construction team, was quoted as saying of the decision to provide the department with a new, custom space, “This will be a better solution for our Auto Tech program while simultaneously creating new opportunities to rethink spaces around Columbus State’s central courtyard.”

The Automotive Technology department currently resides within Delaware Hall, and initial plans to renovate Delaware Hall and expand the department’s programs into the building’s former gymnasium were recently scrapped when the college discovered it would be more cost effective to build an entirely new space than to retrofit the space to accommodate the needed renovations. The college is now evaluating what to do with the space that will be vacated when the Automotive Technology programs move into the new building.

The new building will be completely custom built to accommodate automotive technology education. The 43,000-square-foot building is expected to cost $27 million and will feature custom labs and high-bay spaces to work on cars. The new building will feature dedicated spaces for the Ford ASSET and new Honda PACT academic training programs, in addition to future potential manufacturer partnership training programs. 

The project will break ground in early 2027 and is expected to be completed in 2028.

For more information about Columbus State Community College, visit the school’s website.