College gets valued purchase from an industry partner
Kirkwood Community College has agreed in principal on a purchase of a building for its new regional education center in Linn County. The college got a great value on the single-story building located at 1 Martha’s Way, Hiawatha. It has 98,061 square feet and is located on 11.47 acres with more than 1,000 parking spaces.
The building was most recently occupied by PAETEC, which built a new facility in Hiawatha. Transamerica, one of Kirkwood’s industry partners, owns the building and sold it to Kirkwood for 5.7 million dollars.
“Our great relationship with Transamerica goes back to the mid-1980s,” said Kirkwood president Mick Starcevich. “Transamerica has a data center building right on our main campus. They let us operate our Kirkwood Training & Outreach Services, rent-free, out of their building in Marion, and they support the college through three separate endowments.”
When renovated, this new regional center will serve students from at least eleven high schools, most of which are located within 25 miles of the facility. The center will draw students from large and small districts, from places such as Vinton, Cedar Rapids, Marion, Center Point and Mt. Vernon.
Kirkwood’s Marion Center facility, located at 2900 8th Ave., will be sold. All of its programming, including college degree, high school completion and continuing education offerings will move to the new center.
The renovation of this new regional center in Linn County, along with centers that will be built in Johnson and Washington counties, was made possible when voters overwhelmingly supported the college’s bond issue in September, 2011.