The Lone Star College System facilities, construction and real estate department is in the process of searching for land to construct a new $23 million to $25 million Magnolia Center that could open as early as summer 2017.

Funding for the new 65,000-square-foot center was part of a $485 million LSCS bond referendum passed by voters last November. LSC-Montgomery will oversee the construction and operation of the Magnolia Center.

“We hope that we will have land secured for the center within the next two to three months tops,” said Rebecca Riley, LSC-Montgomery president. “A broker has been retained by the system to help us look for land, but we’ve got some folks in the community that are helping us as well.”

The Magnolia Center is expected to accommodate 2,500 to 2,800 students at build-out and offer specialized workforce programs tailored to the area, Riley said. The center will also offer classroom and lab space for university-transfer programs, such as math, English, history and sciences, said Steve Scheffler, LSC-Montgomery executive director of college relations.

The main criteria the system is looking for in a potential site is an affordable 12- to 15-acre land tract, distance from LSC-Montgomery and LSC-Tomball as well as proximity to one of the Magnolia ISD high schools, existing utilities and major thoroughfares, Riley said. Once the site is selected, the design phase can begin, she said.

“Naturally we want it to be close to current and future major thoroughfares because we really want good visibility,” Riley said. “It’s not good to stick a center out someplace where nobody knows it’s there. We want to be a place people see in their routine drives.”

To determine workforce programs for the new center, Riley said LSCS officials are reviewing labor market surveys to ensure programs that are already offered at the other nearby LSC campuses will not be duplicated. Each of the Magnolia Center workforce programs will offer advisory boards made up of local business owners and other leaders to keep curriculum up-to-date for each industry, she said.

“The demand in the Magnolia area tends to be concentrated around health occupations because there’s a need for that pretty much everywhere,” Riley said. “In general, business programs are also popular. We’re really still much in exploration phase [for programs].”

The college’s community advisory group, which is made up of about 20 Magnolia officials and business leaders, will reconvene this fall to help plan for the new center, Scheffler said. The center will also offer meeting space for community gatherings and events, Riley said.

“We hope [the center] will provide greater access to higher education for more people because of the convenience, affordability and ease of access,” Riley said. “We hope it will help us be a stronger partner with Magnolia ISD with dual credit and other college credit options for students still in high school. We also hope it will be a community hub for organizations and economic development.”