Renderings show new career and technical education center planned in Kalamazoo
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Development plans are set for review next week for the new career and technical education being built in Kalamazoo, funded through a $100 million donation.
The documents submitted to the city of Kalamazoo show the planned educational facility, through a handful of three-dimensional renderings and a virtual flythrough.
A site plan review is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 7, for the new Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency school site at 3500 VanRick Drive, in Kalamazoo’s Milwood neighborhood. It is next to Wings Event Center and near Interstate 94 (I-94). The site plan review is a virtual meeting with applicants and their representatives.
Architectural renderings show a 101,655-square-foot building with a separate employee parking lot and another larger parking area that will connect to the existing Wings Events Center parking lot.
Related: Schematic designs released for new career and tech center in Kalamazoo County
Wightman Director of Architecture Greg Monberg told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette that the building was designed with consideration of community input. The intention is to help students get the skills they need to find quality jobs right out of high school, he said.
“These are not concrete boxes,” he said about the design. Wightman is the architect of the project and DLR Group is the design architect, Monberg said.
The design helps to bring together different areas of study instead of keeping them separated, such as in being divided into separate areas like in some designs from the past.
“This learning commons interconnects all the programs for real sharing and collaboration,” Monberg said, and the design is meant to support those kind of connections.
Collaborations will include things such as an agricultural program growing food that can be prepared and served in the culinary program, he said. Another idea is a collaboration between transportation and culinary programs to create a food truck that could visit area high schools that will be feeders to the school, he said.
A discovery trail will run through the building, Monberg said. The design is meant to send the message to students that the community values them and their education, he said.
Plans show elements of the overall design include a greenhouse, welding yard, bus drop-off, receiving area, transportation yard, construction yard, outdoor event space, outdoor plaza, industry/event space and main entrance. The plan also shows an area available for future expansion.
During the school day, the career center will host only high school career technical education courses.
“For our students to graduate fully ready for the future, they will need a world-class education that equips them with in-demand skills, industry-recognized credentials and experiences that lead to successful employment,” Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency Interim Superintendent Tom Zahrt told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette on Aug. 30.
Related: Vision for new career, technical education center for Kalamazoo County students revealed
The redesign of Kalamazoo County’s system of career education will allow KRESA to provide a unique opportunity to a diverse group of area students that aligns educators with employers, he said.
“It’s exciting to be able to bring educators, industry and community partners together to design a world-class system that will promote cross-sector cooperation and include historically non-traditional students, leading to a brighter future for our community,” Zahrt said.
In the after-school hours, the career center will also be open to the greater community to provide opportunities for employability and skills training for adults and partnerships with local employers, Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency said.
After the site plan review next week, the project will also have to go through another site plan approval for the building construction, planned for later this year, Wightman said.
Citizens can provide input on the plans to the city by emailing siteplan@kalamazoocity.org.
Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency shared a virtual fly-through tour of the space rendered digitally:
The donors of $100 million for the school requested not to be named, Southwest Michigan First said previously, and they asked the economic development organization to act as their representative in the transfer of property and funds.
The land was also donated for the school. Public records show ownership was transferred from Catalyst Development LLC to Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency for $0 in April.
Catalyst Development is the real estate development and management arm of Greenleaf Hospitality Group. Bill Johnston is president, CEO and chairman of Greenleaf, headquartered in Kalamazoo. Catalyst owned the land beginning in 2007. Wings Event Center is also part of Greenleaf.
Course offerings at the planned career center are being designed to provide industry-recognized credentials, as well as develop the critical 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, problem solving, critical thinking and self-management, Southwest Michigan First said previously.
The goal of the facility is to ensure that students, once they leave the facility, can step into a well-paying job and earn enough to live and advance within their career choice, said George Kacan of Wightman.
“This is going to provide students a career that will provide them with a future,” Kacan said. He is the principal in charge of the project.
The new facility is expected to open in fall 2024, according to initial estimates. However, it is difficult to forecast changes in the labor market, supply chain and other pandemic-related roadblocks that may delay construction, Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency said on a page about the project.
A slate of new courses offered once the facility is complete have been recommended by a steering committee to the KRESA Board of Education. The changes to career technical education curriculum would take effect in fall 2024, when the facility is expected to open.
Work on the site is slated to get under way in September, Monberg said. Another approval will be needed for the building construction site plan, Monberg said, and the building will be bid out in December.
Employers of the area are also interested in the school and working to give input and collaborate, Kacan said.
“They’re looking at this as a pipeline,” Kacan said.
A new school will be funded with a $100-million anonymous donation. A site plan is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 7, for the site work at the new Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) school. Project design and renderings by Wightman, the architect of the project, and DLR Group, the design architect.
The October 2021 gift announcement was the third multimillion dollar anonymous donation announced last year.
The anonymous donation commitments coming to the different entities total more than a billion dollars. Some of the amounts will be received over several years.
In June 2021, anonymous donors gifted Western Michigan University $550 million.
The city of Kalamazoo announced in August 2021 that its Foundation for Excellence received a $400 million donation, which will be structured as $40 million per year over 10 years, and be combined with $100 million already raised, for a total of $500 million for the fund’s endowment. Johnston is one of the original donors to the Foundation For Excellence.
The dollar amount for the new Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency school is higher than the cost of the $95-million Kalamazoo county courthouse being built now. The courthouse is the largest capital expenditure the county has ever made, Board Chair Mike Quinn told MLive previously.
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