Some updates on a board meeting I attended earlier today regarding the new El Centro Campus:
RFI’s from board have only received general info and stats from developers. About ten developers and a couple real estate folks are interested in working with the school and have consulted with them regarding the fixed bond amount. IIRC, about $500 million is exclusively going to the new campus, or what they will dub a “technology innovation” center. The board and trustees on the board want to potentially integrate elements such as retail, food, and entertainment on the ground level to boost property value.
Board & committee is really pushing on-campus housing for students. The board will oversee and investigate the current academic status for all students. The board is also pushing towards a potential 92k students by the end of the decade:
https://www.dallascollege.edu/bond/pages/default.aspx which may suggest why they are planning on-campus housing for current and future students.
Dallas College’s lease with One Main Place ends this year, which will force the relocation of the architecture, interior design, engineering & fashion design programs back to the main campus. The board wants to avoid perhaps building in the West End neighborhood as the Paramount building has seen a spike in security incidents. The board also wants to make sure the campus is accessible via DART light rails, and/or DART shuttles/fleets which suggest the idea of building the campus near Cedars and/or near Dallas City Hall. There is also talk of doing a conversion and re-designing the current 801 Main St. building and expanding it vertically, though this will conflict with the West End district’s zoning laws.
My biggest takeaway of course is the on-campus housing. The high interest rates and lack of downtown building is not ignored by developers. The board will spend the next couple of months doing demographics analysis and understanding that half, if not more than half of DCCCD students will not be able to afford this housing. There is little incentive to keep students housed on-site given the lack of amenities, entertainment, food, recreation, and safety on the current site. I will soon take it up to the board to perhaps reconsider the housing element, and invest in other departments such as curriculum, curriculum research, programs, etc.
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