The Albany Business Review reported July 21 about Hudson Valley Community College’s expansion plans at its TEC-SMART site in Malta.
HVCC investing $10 million-plus to expand, renovate Saratoga County campus
Robin K. Cooper / Albany Business Review / July 21, 2021
Hudson Valley Community College will spend close to $10.5 million expanding and renovating its Saratoga County campus to train more students for careers in nursing, construction, welding and computer chip manufacturing.
The Troy college will begin construction of a two-story, $7.5 million, 14,500-square-foot addition at its Tec-Smart campus in Malta this fall.
The school also will spend an additional $3 million renovating its existing 43,000-square-foot building, which opened in 2010.
Mosaic Associates Architects of Troy designed this proposed 14,500-square-foot addition to Hudson Valley Community College’s satellite campus in Malta, Saratoga County.
“Right now, we are receiving more applications than we can accept,” said college president Roger Ramsammy. “We need a place to put those students rather than turning them away.”
The school receives about 1,500 applications for its nursing program per year, but only has room for about 100 students. Demand for Hudson Valley’s electrical construction program also is strong. That program receives about 750 applications a year, but only has room for 85 students.
To address the space shortage, Ramsammy and Hudson Valley are investing in their Malta campus, which currently serves about 500 students a year. Over the next several years, the college plans to increase the number of programs to 31, gradually building enrollment in Saratoga County to 2,000 students a year.
The Tec-Smart campus, which is being rebranded as HVCC-North, will add classes in nursing and surgical technology as well as skilled trades programs such as welding and construction.
The school also will add cleanroom space, an ultra-hygenic manufacturing area used for the production of computer chips, medication and medical devices. By adding that space, it will allow the campus to train more students to work at the GlobalFoundries chip manufacturing complex located a mile away in the Luther Forest Technology Campus.
News of the expansion comes days after GlobalFoundries confirmed that it will build a second chip factory next door to its existing $15 billion plant in Malta. That project is expected to increase GlobalFoundries’ local headcount from 3,000 to 4,000.
The chip plan highlights the need for more college programs in the area, school officials said.
Hudson Valley and GlobalFoundries have scheduled an event for Aug. 5 at the Tec-Smart campus to announce a donation to help finance the expansion and renovations.
To date, the college has secured about $2.5 million toward the Malta projects, according to Regina LaGatta, executive director of external affairs and the college foundation.
Ramsammy outlined details of the expansion this week during a presentation to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. The college is talking with businesses, individuals and government organizations to help cover the remainder of the construction and renovation costs.
The project is being designed by Mosaic Associates Architects of Troy, the same firm that designed Hudson Valley’s $14.5 million Gene Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Skills, which opened two years ago.
Hudson Valley has not selected a contractor for the project.
Part of the strategy, Ramsammy said, is to make it easier for some of the 1,700 students who live in Saratoga County and areas north to attend classes closer to home instead of traveling to the school’s main campus in Troy.
“Our job is to serve the community to make sure all of the businesses can continue to grow,” Ramsammy said.
If construction of the expansion begins this fall, the college plans to begin offering classes in the spring.
Published: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:00:07 +0000 by d.gardner