MADRAS, OR -- Central Oregon Community College has wrapped up the design phase of its Madras Campus expansion project. Officials submitted for permits last week. "We hope to be breaking ground by the end of June 2024; so just around the corner," says Madras Campus Director Jeremy Green.
He tells KBND News the lower part of the building was designed in partnership with a third-party operator of a childcare facility, "The Children’s Learning Center is our partner, and they have existed for the last several years with a three-year long waitlist," says Green, "With the addition of 100 childcare slots, they’re going to be able to really meet the broader need within the community." Green says it means some kids could start pre-school at COCC Madras and later return to earn their degree. "This is an exciting venture for COCC, as a whole. We don’t have another facility on any of our four campuses that are going to be built or designed like this, with a third-party childcare provider on site. So it is going to change the look and feel of the Madras campus, for sure."
There’s also an expanded health careers training facility that mirrors portions of St. Charles Medical Center. Renderings of the entire expansion project will be available at an open house later this week, "What are the COCC students going to experience when they walk into this facility, as a health careers-specific training site for nursing, nursing assisting and medical assisting? What can the broader community expect as this building is constructed over the next year?"
The open house is Thursday evening, April 4, at COCC Madras (1170 E. Ashwood Rd.), from 4 to 5:30 p.m. "We have the latest renderings of the project that will show the project to scale, that will give an idea of what the building will look like on the inside, folks accessing this facility from the childcare center get a look and a feel for what is it going to look like for the kiddos coming in."
Fundraising for the project continues. Green expects the new building to open in the fall of 2025.
Image: Architectural rendering of COCC Madras' new building
