The Arthur E. Brown Regional Workforce Training Center, which was first proposed in 2016, would expand capacity by 850 students. That would be a nearly 42 percent increase from the college's most recent 2,042 student enrollment. At 50,000 square feet, the facility would be 19,000 square feet bigger than the current New River Campus building.
The center would help prepare students for the jobs Beaufort County's economy needs now and will need in the future, according to Mary Lee Carns, vice president for advancement and workforce development at TCL.
Carns said they hope to secure all the funding and start construction by this time 2024, and want to have students in the building by 2028.
"We have no commitments to the funding right now," she said, though TCL is no stranger to partnering with the community to raise funds for projects like this.
TCL is the bridge between students who are coming out of school and industries that are locating to the Lowcountry, state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said. "Industries won't come into our area if they don't have a ready supply of employees that can meet their needs," he said.
In the current state spending plan, which hasn't been approved yet, there isn't any money allotted to the center. However, Davis said the state Board of Economic Advisor's updated revenue forecast, expected to be released next week, will give the budget the extra money to change that.
The full House and Senate will have to approve the budget before they adjourn May 11 and send the budget to Gov. Henry McMaster.
"I fully expected at that time that there will be appropriations for [...] TCL," Davis said, although he didn't say how much.
Carns said they're asking for $10 million from the state for funding, and then hope to fund the rest through local government and private industry support.
Beaufort County representatives have "every intention of cooperating with TCL" to make the project come to fruition, County Administrator Eric Greenway said. He said they've already had some conversations, but they're waiting on this year's state budget to finalize plans to contribute locally.
The school's $15.3 million culinary institute was funded with $2.5 million from the Beaufort County School District, $8.2 million from Beaufort County, $500,000 from the Town of Bluffton, $3.5 million from the state of South Carolina, and $625,000 from private sources and donors. The culinary institute was proposed in 2015, broke ground in 2019 and opened for students in 2021.
She said the cost of the workforce training center would be broken up into $20 million for construction costs and $6 million for new faculty and other administrative costs. There have been architectural rendering since 2016, which the college refined since then, according to Carns.
"We're hopeful that this may be the year there would be enough funding from the state of South Carolina that would give us the momentum [so] we can start conversations locally," Carns said.
They've already worked locally with partner development organizations like the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation to understand what programs they need to add and expand upon to keep up with the area's economy.
"Defense and hospitality and tourism are are terrific industries in this area," said John O'Toole, executive director for BCEDC. "But the thought was is to have have all of your marbles in two baskets is like having only two stocks in your investment portfolio."
The center would allow the university to add four new programs:
- Precision manufacturing
- Electric vehicle technology
- Automated systems technology
- Supply chain/logistics
And expand upon three existing programs:
- Cybersecurity
- Computer technology
- Business/accounting
"Have we partnered with the community and asked for significant funds in order for capital projects that directly benefit the community [before]? We have," Carns said. "It's just [about] kind of hitting that sweet spot when things can come together."
©2023 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
