Community Update—LSC bond projects on tap for 2015

Officials with Lone Star College–CyFair are entering the initial planning stages for new projects related to the $485 million bond referendum that passed in November. Major projects—including a new Computer Information Technology & Visual Communications Center and a 75,000-square-foot instructional facility—will be planned out over the next few months, and construction is expected to start in late 2015.

The planning phase of delivering the new projects involves working with contractors, architects and construction managers as well as talking with college employees at all levels on the Cy-Fair campus to come up with renderings and determine what, if anything, needs to be changed or added. Once a solid plan has been crafted, the college will move forward in the process, which includes purchasing land and construction, LSC–CyFair President Audre Levy said.

The new 75,000-square-foot instructional building on the LSC–CyFair campus will also involve creating 750 more parking spaces, Levy said. This will play a vital role in alleviating the strain from growing enrollment numbers, she said.

The Cy-Fair campus broke enrollment records at the start of the fall 2014 semester with 20,384 students—more than 300 additional students than what the campus was originally thought to be capable of handling when it opened in 2003.

"We're still expecting to see demand continue to rise for the college, and there's just so much opportunity here to really bring workforce training to our students," Levy said.

A location has not yet been established for the planned Computer Information Technology Workforce Center, Levy said.

"We're already projecting that we're going to need to add to the welding and machining programs," she said. "We're looking at expansions of around 5,000 square feet to create additional space for the equipment necessary for real-time training."