A groundbreaking ceremony to kickoff construction of a new Lone Star College-Conroe Center campus will take place on Friday, January 29, 2009, at 12 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the build site of the new center, which is located at 777 N. FM 3083 E., in Conroe. A reception with light hors d’oeuvres will immediately follow the ceremony.
 
Among others, the groundbreaking ceremony will feature comments from Randy Bates, chair of the Lone Star College System Board of Trustees; Dr. Richard G. Carpenter, chancellor of LSCS; Dr. Austin A. Lane, president of Lone Star College-Montgomery; U.S. Congressmn Kevin Brady; Webb Melder, mayor of Conroe; Alan “Barb” Sadler, Montgomery County judge; Pacelli Mesta, principal of Perspectiva (architect); Jim Self, senior vice president of EMJ Construction, Inc.; and Lori Mendel, student at LSC-Montgomery and resident of Willis.
 
Before the groundbreaking ceremony, Conroe High School’s premiere a cappella student group, Finally Friday, will perform.
 
“The new Conroe Center is a much-needed expansion of our existing presence in Conroe,” said Dr. Austin A. Lane, president of LSC-Montgomery. “Our new location on FM 3083 will allow us to build a true campus, with a capacity to serve more than 3,000 students from the northern part of our service area.”
 
The construction of the new LSC-Conroe Center campus is attributed to the bond referendum that was passed in May 2008. The bond also included the construction of three classroom buildings (Music Hall, Health Science Center, and General Academic Center) and a parking garage for the campus on College Park Drive.  
 
The new campus is also the result of the partnership between the Greater Conroe Economic Development Council, the city of Conroe, and the Conroe Industrial Development Council, who all worked extensively with the college to help facilitate a land deal that would provide adequate space for the center.
 
The new LSC-Conroe Center will include a 67,000 square-foot academic building, as well as a 16,000 square-foot industrial building.
 
The academic building will house 12 general classrooms, eight computer labs, specialized biology, geology, and physics laboratories, and 12 faculty offices. In addition, the campus will feature an on-site bookstore, library, and testing center.

A separate 16,000-square-foot industrial building, which is being designed to allow room for expansion, will include two full-service bays for the automotive and diesel technology programs, as well as state-of-the-art training equipment for the welding; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; and machining programs.
 
The architectural firm Perspectiva has designed the new campus, and EMJ Construction, Inc. will handle the construction. Clearing of the site has already begun. The campus will be completed by January 2011, in time for the start of the Spring 2011 semester.
 
“Careful planning has taken place—both internally among LSC-Montgomery faculty and staff, as well as externally with input from a variety of community stakeholders,” said Lane. “This insures that the new campus will adequately serve both the current and future needs of the community.”
 
For more information about the upcoming construction projects at LSC-Montgomery and the new LSC-Conroe Center, please visit www.LoneStar.edu/construction-updates.
 
LSC-Conroe Center is located at 102 Longview Street, just east of downtown Conroe on Highway 105 past the FM 1314 intersection. For more information about LSC-Conroe Center, call (936) 271-6000, or visit www.LoneStar.edu/conroe-center.

Lone Star College System consists of five colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, and LSC-Tomball, six centers, LSC-University Center, LSC-University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. With more than 58,000 students in credit classes this fall, LSCS is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and third largest community college system in Texas. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.