Planning approved for new LCC health science building

The Lenoir Community College Board of Trustees agreed this week to hire an architect to design a new health sciences building for the campus in Kinston — although the funding hasn’t yet been secured to build it.

LCC spokeswoman Richy Huneycutt said Schenkel Schultz Architects, based in Morrisville, would help design a 40,000-square foot health sciences building that will be located near the college’s U.S. 70 entrance.

“It’s going to be very visible from U.S. 70,” Huneycutt said.

LCC Vice President of Operations Bud Vick said the design would cost $90,000 to develop, but there weren’t any available funds to build a new health science building. A new health science building will cost about $16 million to build, Vick said.

“We are doing advanced planning, so when funds do become available, we can move forward with the construction,” Vick said. “We don’t have the budget to build.”

Before the recession, Vick said college officials had planned to have a new health science building built in about two years.

“The economy has to turn around and the state’s tax revenues have to pick up,” Vick said. “The project will likely be funded through a bond referendum in the future.”

Vick said college officials don’t know when construction could begin. As planning continues for a new health science building, several additional LCC capital projects are wrapping up.

LCC will dedicate its Jones County campus in Trenton at 11 a.m. Dec. 14. The Jones County campus second phase was recently completed and Vick said the new campus was currently serving students. It cost about $2 million to build the new campus in Trenton.

Vick said a new 5,000-square foot maintenance building on the Kinston campus was completed this month. The old maintenance building will be converted into classroom space for construction trade training. The new maintenance building cost about $750,000 to build, according to Vick.

Chris Lavender can be reached at 252-559-1078 or clavender@freedomenc.com.