Advances Technology & Business Center Renovation Project
Inver Hills Community College President Tim Wynes, JD, spoke at the Minnesota State Capitol Thursday, April 12, 2018. President Wynes urged the Senate Capital Investment Committee to fund the design to renovate the Technology & Business Center on the college’s main campus in Inver Grove Heights.
The bill, SF 2640, is sponsored by Senator Matt Klein and designates $698,000 to Inver Hills for the first phase of a $14.6 million dollar upgrade and renovation project.
“We house cutting-edge programs in a building with a perennially leaky roof, a bad earth-berm design, weak HVAC and a ski chalet roof slope that eliminates most natural light from penetrating the building.”
— President Tim Wynes, JD
President Wynes with Commissioner Pogemiller during Inver Hills campus tour in March 2018
As the first step toward modernizing crucial lab and classroom space for technology and business programs, the design calls for upgrading 31,800 square feet of the existing center. The goal is to create state-of-the-art learning environments for programs that prepare students for high-paying, high-demand careers.
Built in the 1970s, the center houses classrooms for the college’s Cisco Academy as well as for Cybersecurity, IT, Paralegal and Business programs. The aging building also contains more than 20 faculty offices.
“We house cutting-edge programs in a building with a perennially leaky roof, a bad earth-berm design, weak HVAC and a ski chalet roof slope that eliminates most natural light from penetrating the building,” Wynes testified. “Funding the design phase and hopefully the building phase in 2020 will move our students and faculty to a modern space.”
Learn more about the Technology & Business Center Renovation Project.
Senator Klein reported: “Their current building was built in the 1970s and is half buried underground. Keeping expensive computer hardware in this leaky facility is risky for the equipment and dismal for a classroom environment. I’m looking forward to some upgrades at that campus.”
President Wynes noted that the project is in the top 10 on the Minnesota State and Governor Dayton’s capital bonding list. “This has been a six-year quest to make this a building that suits the work that goes on in it,” he said. “This is one more step toward our goal. I greatly appreciate the support of Senator Klein and all of our legislative delegation.”
Lawmakers will determine if the bill gets added to a large bonding bill that encompasses many projects across the state of Minnesota.
