MACOMB – After a yearlong renovation and construction project, Spoon River College students, faculty and staff have a new campus in Macomb.
Movers and volunteers are dismantling the community college's former campus on South Johnson Street in Macomb and hauling furniture, texts, computers and more across town to the newly-renovated Spoon River College Macomb Outreach Center on East Jackson Street. Classes will begin Aug. 25, and a grant opening has been set for 3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3. A 'wall-breaking' ceremony was held last summer to dedicate and celebrate the renovations that were beginning on the new Macomb East Campus. The building, which housed Value Village back in the day and K-Mart in later years, was purchased by SRC in 2006.
The college's Office of Community Outreach, which has been housed on the east side of the facility, will remain in their current offices. The building has been retrofitted with new windows, floors and doors, skylights, plumbing, electricity and upgraded technology, along with several other features. In addition to classrooms, labs and simulation suites for career programs – including contemporary programs in heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC) and industrial maintenance that includes robotics repair – the 66,000-square-foot space features administrative and faculty offices, and student support services.
The center of the renovated space is what the college is calling a town square, which architects from Hastings and Chivetta have modeled around the Macomb Courthouse Square. The 'middle' of the campus is the Student Success Center, with other offices, classrooms, labs and departments surrounding the 'square.'
'We are thrilled to be opening the doors of our new Macomb campus. This facility represents a major investment in the future of our students and our community,' said SRC President Curt Oldfield. 'With expanded space, modern technology, new programs and enhanced learning environments, we are better equipped than ever to prepare students for meaningful careers right here in the west central Illinois region.'
Nearly 50 workers have been on the job site over the past 12+ months, with most of the contracted employees hailing from the SRC service region, Oldfield shared. The overall cost of the project on East Jackson is $17.2 million ($6.2 million from Gov. Pritzker's Rebuild Illinois; $10 million SRC bond funds, and $1 million of Congressional funds to support the expansion of rural health care secured by Sen. Dick Durbin to support expansion of rural health care).
Since 1983, Spoon River College (SRC), with its main campus located in Canton, has called the old 'Macomb High' home. Prior to the Johnson Street campus, the first SRC-Macomb branch campus was located downtown 10 years prior, after members of the Macomb-Adair-Bardolph Common School Districts approved joining the SRC district.
SRC serves approximately 1,200 students between its Macomb and Canton campuses. Nearly 300 students attend the branch campus in Macomb. The Johnson Street campus is currently listed at $695,000 through Century 21 Purdum-Epperson, Inc.
'I appreciate the vision of the Spoon River College Board of Trustees, the patience and dedication of the SRC Employees and the support of the community to help us get this project completed,' Oldfield concluded.
