Campus to get two new buildings

By Theodore Geigle

The Scene staff

Hospitality and transportation are the big winners at Forest Park in a capital improvement plan that was unveiled by St. Louis Community College officials recently.

Chancellor Jeff Pittman and Chief Operating Officer Hart Nelson came to campus announce that the college will construct two new buildings, demolish one building and renovate other buildings.

Officials expect to clear and prepare sites this spring and start construction this summer.

“There’s going to be challenging times during construction on campus, but once it’s finished, things will be better than before,” Nelson said.

STLCC Transformed is the name of the capital improvement plan for all four campuses. It’s expected to cost $456.5 million.

The money was made available by Proposition R, which district voters passed in August 2021. It raised property taxes to pay for college upgrades and improvements.

Pittman and Nelson held a “town hall meeting” on Feb. 16 in Café East at Forest Park to explain what will be happening in the coming months. About 20 faculty and staff members attended, but no students.

Hospitality and enrollment

STLCC Transformed calls for a new Hospitality and Enrollment Center to be constructed south of the Center for Nursing and

Health Sciences at Forest Park.

It will house culinary arts, baking and pastry arts and other classes associated with the hospitality studies program on the second floor.

The program is now based in the Hospitality Studies Center, south of the Student Center.

“We’re stoked,” said Ellen Piazza, chair of culinary arts and baking and pastry arts.

“(The current) building doesn’t really serve its purpose. It wasn’t made to accommodate for the future.

“We’ll be getting more pieces, modern equipment … And another thing people don’t think about often is presentation. If you come to my hotel and the doorknob is sticky, you won’t want to come to my hotel.

“Same as if you went into a restaurant and it had a gross mop smell. You wouldn’t want to eat there. So we’re exceptionally pleased to be getting a new and more modern building.”

The first floor of the new building will house an enrollment center, including the financial aid office, cashier’s office and counseling services.

“The intent is for students to have a central point where they can have most things taken care of,” Nelson said.

Construction of the $39 million Center for Nursing and Health Sciences in 2019 included creation of a landscaped plaza to the south with a sculpture consisting of 10 giant “light walls.”

See Buildings page 2

Box A represents the new Transportation and Logistics Center in the college’s capital improvement plan. Box B is the new Hospitality and Enrollment Center. Streets are shown in red, walkways in yellow and parking lots in white with a P.