Schenectady County Community College is taking over more of Center City.
The Board of Trustees on Monday approved entering into a new lease with the Galesi Group for an additional 11,000 square feet of space on top of the 20,000 square feet the college has already been leasing.
At Center City, the college has eight classrooms including two mock hospital rooms with equipment as part of its eight-week certified nursing assistant class. SCCC in 2010 received a five-year $11.2 million grant from the federal Department of Health and Human Services to train low-income people for health careers.
The new space includes classrooms, faculty offices and work space, and common areas for students.
The current rate was $17.75 per square foot, which amounted to about $361,550. The health care grant paid $96,759 with the college picking up the rest. There is also $90,000 in utility costs, $30,000 for janitorial services and $72,000 for security.
SCCC gets SUNY funding reimbursing it for a portion of its share of the lease.
The cost of the new lease is to be negotiated but it will be equal to the current rate or slightly better, according to the board resolution.
Board chairwoman Denise Murphy McGraw said Center City has been a success but the college needs faculty offices, small rooms for faculty to meet with students and common areas.
“That’s one thing we understand from the students is really lacking,” she said.
SCCC officials were excited about expanding to the Center City space when the move was announced last year because it allowed them a chance to offer classes at a night and on weekends in the downtown location.
The college is expanding to other locations off its Washington Avenue campus. President Quintin B. Bullock reported that there is a plan for renovations of the building at 201 State St. that was donated to the college by the Kindl family and is to house the college’s workforce development programs.
“The goal is to implement parts of that project during the summertime,” he said.
In other business, the Board of Trustees approved the formal purchase of the old service station property at 101 Washington Ave. This vacant site is going to be incorporated into the student housing parcel being built across the street. The purchase price will be between $105,000 and $115,000 based on two appraisals.
The board also approved a capital budget request including $700,000 to purchase and fix up a variety of properties east of the college. There are no specific sites at this point but this is for future parking and academic buildings, according to McGraw. The college is bordered by the Mohawk River, Route 5 and Interstate 890.
“It’s hard when you’re landlocked,” McGraw said.
The capital budget request also includes $964,000 for an emergency electrical generation system, $1.3 million in mechanical upgrades to Elston Hall and $1.85 million in campuswide electrical improvements.
The Board of Trustees also formally ratified the three-year agreement with the SCCC Faculty Association that was approved last week by the Schenectady County Legislature. The agreement contained 1.5 percent raises and the faculty is paying a larger share toward its health care. The board appropriated $437,267 from its fund balance to cover the costs of the retroactive raises, which includes $133,886 for salaries, benefits and merit pay for 2010-2011 and $303,381 for 2011-2012.
Categories: Schenectady County
