Warren County’s population is projected to be near 372,000 by 2035, according to Sinclair Community College’s studies. And the college expects those projected numbers to create a large need for higher education in the vastly growing community.
So to follow David Sinclair’s motto, “Find the need, and endeavor to meet it,” Sinclair has begun its preliminary expansion of the Courseview Campus.
The ambitious long-range plan, hopes to address the needs of 8,000 to 10,000 future students by offering 50 to 75 academic programs according to Sinclair literature.
The expansion of the campus will include the construction of eight to 10 new buildings, over 75 to 85 acres of land.
A large portion of that proposed area was purchased by the Sinclair Foundation this past March for the sum of $4.5 million.
During the August Board of Trustees meeting, Sinclair approved a movement to complete an architectural and engineering design study of the Stress Engineering building, which sits adjacent to the Courseview campus.
The approved study will cost no more than $75,000. When the study is complete, Sinclair President Steve Johnson will make a final recommendation to the Board of Trustees this November on what needs to be accomplished as far as renovations are concerned.
Subsequently, Johnson said he will be asking for $3-4 million for the suggested renovations.
The Sinclair Foundation purchased the Stress Engineering building along with a land purchase in July.
“Right now there is a business in there, but they are moving,” Johnson said. “And when they vacate that building, we will renovate it, and effectively double our space.”
The future of Courseview Campus has been planned out over six phases according to Sinclair literature. Those six phases are to be completed over the next 25 years and Adam Murka, director of public information at Sinclair, said the proposed phased implementation should help meet the need of a growing community.
“Sinclair is committed to providing the highly trained workforce that Warren County will need to remain one of the fastest growing regions in the State of Ohio,” Murka said. “Growing the Warren County campus will allow more people throughout Southwest Ohio access to high quality and affordable education.”
Murka mentioned that no part of the funding which is used for the Dayton campus was used to buy any of the land that was recently purchased.