Fort Bend ISD will construct its new Career and Technical Education center in Telfair, with plans to break ground next year. The proposed two-story building would be about 177,000 square feet and comprise 23 acres accessible from University Boulevard and Chatham Avenue in Sugar Land. The board of trustees unanimously approved a 65-acre district-owned property to house the center July 18. An April 2017 groundbreaking for the site is scheduled, with the center planned to open in August 2018. “We really need to kind of stay true to our milestones as we move from here to the finish line,” said project manager Jennifer Henrikson of Stantec Architecture Inc., which is designing the center. The project cost about $59.4 million, using funds from a $484.2 million bond program approved in 2014. Programs housed at the new building will include construction, agriculture and natural resource; arts, audiovisual and communications; cosmetology, information technology and robotics, according to meeting documents. Culinary arts, health science, automotive technology, law and public safety; and education and early childhood training will also be offered at the new facility. In addition to classrooms, the CTE center will contain administrative offices, student collaboration spaces, a college and career readiness center; a dining and event space; and a credit union. The CTE center will be located near the Sugar Land Regional Airport. Board member Grayle James asked if that posed any risk to students. “It’s a small regional airport so the traffic will be relatively low,” Henrikson said. “There will be planes taking off and landing. The whole community has been there for awhile and nothing crazy has happened, so I don’t anticipate anything.” The site is also in a 100-year flood plain, which concerned some board members. “I don’t think we’re going to have a problem here with the infrastructure that’s already in place from the developer,” Henrikson said June 20. Oscar Perez, FBISD executive director of design and construction, said July 18 that a levee was built around the area. The center will use a half-day schedule, taking programs and staff from FBISD’s old Technical Education Center at Dulles High School, which opened in 1971. The new center will allow the district to serve between 1,800 and 2,000 students compared to the maximum of 400 students served per day at the existing building. It is also the goal of the district to be able to let recent graduates obtain certifications by taking classes at the new center during off times, FBISD CTE director Meredith Watassek said June 20. “We want to get our programs set up and then we want to put systems in place so that we can offer those evening opportunities, weekend and then summer opportunities,” she said, adding that employee training could also be held at the new center.