Dec. 8, 2004
(DALLAS)
– Dr. Jesus “Jess” Carreon announced today that Dallas County Community
Colleges will invest in the future of south Dallas by centralizing its
administrative/system offices in new facilities at 1300 Corinth St. over
the next two years. The new building will be adjacent to the system’s
Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development.
Dallas County
Community Colleges, which recently purchased the former Sears payment
processing center on Corinth Street, will move personnel from its
current administration building at 701 Elm St. in downtown Dallas and
from its District Service Center in Mesquite after construction on the
new facility is complete; that move is projected to occur in December
2006 or January 2007. The facilities then will be called the Bill Priest
Education Complex, which honors the first chancellor of the Dallas
County Community Colleges, Dr. Bill J. Priest.
“We are investing
approximately $20 million in the future of south Dallas, in addition to
$10 million we recently spent to purchase the Paramount Building in the
West End so that El Centro College can expand its nursing and allied
health facilities,” said Carreon, the system’s chancellor. “Funds from
our recently approved bond package included expansion of the Bill Priest
Institute and additional facilities at our colleges and new education
centers across Dallas County. We will maintain our presence in the
Central Business District through El Centro College, which will move
some offices into the current administration building at 701 Elm, and we
will expand our presence in south Dallas.”
Eastfield College,
located in Mesquite, will expand its workforce development operations
into the District Service Center, which is adjacent to the campus. Once
District Service Center personnel have completed their move, that
additional space will be used by EFC for classrooms and facilities. The
service center includes business affairs, purchasing, information
technology and related operations for the system.
“This
consolidation of system functions to one location will enable us to
handle business and college operations more efficiently and
effectively,” added Carreon. “And we want to assure our employees –
especially those in our administration building at 701 Elm and those at
the District Service Center – that they will be encouraged to share
their ideas, needs and suggestions for the new facilities through a
committee structure that starts at the location level and moves up. I
want our employees to look at this opportunity as ‘the glass half full’
and to devote positive energy to making this transition successful.”
The
move will involve approximately 200 persons from the District Service
Center and 100 employees from the current administration building to a
new 80,000-square-foot facility. Personnel will be involved in the
committee process from January to May 2005, and the old Sears facilities
will be razed. The date to begin construction on the new building will
be announced, and the entire process should be completed in two years.
As
this plan proceeds, a multitude of other projects continue at all seven
Dallas County Community Colleges, funded either by $50 million in
maintenance tax notes (for maintenance and repairs) or by the $450
million bond program expected to build out over the next six to seven
years. Five new education centers in underserved or fast-growing sectors
of Dallas County also are planned.
Susan Hall, executive
district director of human resources, will chair the field advisory
committee. Bob Brown, vice chancellor for business affairs, is CEO for
the District Service Center, and Dr. Glen Bounds serves as president of
the Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development. Drs. Wright
Lassiter and Rodger Pool, presidents of El Centro and Eastfield colleges
respectively, also have been working with Carreon to plan for and
implement these changes.
“With the support of the members of
our board of trustees, I want to thank everyone involved in this
process,” added Carreon. “Change is not easy, but I know that we will
have a coordinated team effort as we move forward with this move and
with our bond program in general.”
For more information, see Relocation Fact Sheet or contact Ann Hatch in the Dallas County Community Colleges marketing and communications office at (214) 860-2478.