Stafford is now home to Houston Community College’s Stafford Campus Workforce Building, an industrial career-training center with capacity for hundreds of students.

Houston Community College held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the center Sept. 6. The $26.25 million, 54,424-square-foot center will be the headquarters of HCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence, offering programs that include engineering, technology and machine technology.

The building features industry laboratories, administrative space, conference rooms and a maker’s space with 3-D printers and woodworking and machine tools.

“Students are going to come here to get the hands-on experience that we all know is invaluable to student success,” HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado said.

HCC Southwest College President Madeline Burillo said the workforce center will have about 200 students this fall starting in late October with training for those already in the workforce. She said classes have already started for students enrolled in technical training programs with most of them attending HCC’s Central Campus in Houston.

“Come spring we’re looking at having about another 400,” Burillo said. “Next fall we hope to have about 500 to 600 students here.”

Burillo said programs offered at the center also include electrical, plumbing, welding, pipefitting, industrial maintenance, mechatronics and HVAC programs. Students will be able to obtain HCC as well as national certifications. The center would also be a site for industry conferences as well as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) summer camps for area youth, she said.

Burillo said the new center supports the large manufacturing industry in Stafford.

“It was a logical place to have an expansion of manufacturing and advanced manufacturing for HCC,” she said.

The center will host its grand opening Oct. 12.

“I’m excited about this facility and its significance for [the] Fort Bend County workforce and economic development,” Burillo said.