Biology building upgrade at college now under way | Last phase of $15 million investment

A classroom of the newly renovated chemistry and physics building at Texarkana College is pictured.
A classroom of the newly renovated chemistry and physics building at Texarkana College is pictured.

TEXARKANA, Texas - Texarkana College is in the middle of its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics remodel project and is just beginning the phase where it will update its existing Biology building by way of an atrium will connect it with the new Biology building.

This will basically make it one building.

The STEM project started in the fall of 2019 with the renovation of its Health Occupations building, updating and improving it into what is now the new Biology building. The second phase is the update of the school's Chemistry building, which is nearly complete.

"In phases 3a and 3b, what we're doing is updating the existing Biology building and bringing it up to the standard of what you're going to see in the (new Biology building) and the Chemistry building," Vice President of Operations Brandon Washington said. "We're looking at joining the old and new Biology buildings to where it's really all going to be one building."

These improvements were approved by the board in 2018 to modernize instructional space and meet state and federal ADA compliance standards. The cost was set at $15 million

The final phase, now underway, has budget capped just a bit less than $5 million.

"This is really just giving us a good opportunity to really address getting these things up to date from the 1960s, for the most part," Washington said. "We'll have six Biology labs, four Chemistry labs and 11 classrooms that will all be completely renovated when this whole project comes together."

He said these updates are how Texarkana College stays competitive with community colleges and four-year colleges in the area.

"We want to make sure we have a state-of-the-art facility with the right tools and equipment that they need in the STEM areas," he added.

The finals stages of the Chemistry building remodel, including a brand new heating and air conditioning system, plumbing, furniture, labs, lab equipment and more, are expected to be complete within the next month. This would be in time for students and teachers to occupy the building for the 2nd week of summer semester classes - of which there are five.

The target date for completion of construction for Phase 3 is July 2022.

More upgrades coming

Washington said that while the college is expecting to come in under budget in all three phases, there is not yet a definite list of additional upgrades/renovations to be had in other areas, largely due to high material costs at the moment.

"There are some other areas on campus we can upgrade, but we don't have a defined list quite yet," he said. "The cost of materials are really running up across the country, and we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves with that increase in materials. But our contractors are working really hard to make sure we can get the same materials at the best price available right now."

Washington credited Director of Facilities Rick Boyette, Architect David Lamb and the contractors with M.L. James Construction Co. for the work that has been done and is being done right now. He also said faculty input was a big help.

"Our ultimate goal is for this facility to be efficiently used by the students, faculty and instructors. So, we've involved the faculty and instructors on what their needs are and what it takes to be efficient," he said. "The thing I've learned most, with this being the first big project that I've been a part of, is A, being able to learn from everybody that's on the team and B, just everybody coming together, having a voice and making sure it looks good."

Student and faculty feedback has been good, he said.

"At this point, all the faculty, instructors and classes we have in there now that have started, we hear nothing but compliments," Washington said. "And that means a lot, but that wouldn't happen if we weren't meeting weekly and making sure it was going to be efficient and functional for everybody. That's been the neatest part of it."

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