Austin Community College broke ground on its San Gabriel campus in Leander on April 21.

The event was hosted at Capital Metro’s Leander station across from the future campus site because of morning rains. Event attendees included ACC trustees, Leander City Council members, Leander Mayor Chris Fielder and Leander ISD Superintendent Bret Champion.

“We’re excited to be part of this community because we want to provide access [to higher education] and excellence,” ACC President and CEO Richard Rhodes said.

ACC board Chairman Vic Villarreal said he has had a vision for a Leander campus for at least 11 years.

The campus is expected to open in summer 2018 and is funded by 2014 voter-approved bonds totaling $60 million. ACC San Gabriel’s 106,000-square-foot-building will include classroom and science labs as well as an ACCelerator, which is a learning lab for services including academic coaching, continuing education, tutoring for a variety of subjects, workshops and assessments. The college’s first ACCelerator lab is located at the ACC Highland campus, 6101 Airport Blvd., in Austin.

“It is my hope that in 10 years this city will have a comprehensive, four-year research university,” Villarreal said. “Let’s teach; let’s learn; … let’s continue to inspire.”

ACC San Gabriel will open with an initial enrollment capacity of 2,000 students, and Villarreal said in the future the campus will become larger with additional student capacity.