Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff, and other invited guests celebrated the groundbreaking for Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology’s new state-of-the-art Greiner Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
Construction is about to begin on the College’s $20 million expansion which will be to the machine tool and computer-aided manufacturing, metals fabrication and welding and heating, ventilation, air condition and refrigeration (HVAC&R) programs. The Center is expected to be open for classes in the fall of 2018.
“In a world where we constantly hear of political polarization, partisanship, and ideological silos, this project stands in stark contrast,” said Thaddeus Stevens president William Griscom. “It represents a positive example of a multi-level, bipartisan governmental, public-private partnership, that required leadership, creativity, cooperation, and compromise, in order to become a reality.”
The program featured remarks from key supporters of the project and the College, including Secretary Curtis Topper of the PA Department of General Services, Lancaster Mayor Richard Gray, Lancaster County Commissioner Dennis Stuckey, state Sen. Scott Martin and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker.
The Greiner Center will be a 60,000-square-foot facility comprising two buildings on the site of the former National Guard Armory on Chesapeake Street, a short distance from the College’s historic 32-acre main campus at the eastern edge of Lancaster City. The Greiner Center is being built by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services at a cost of approximately $20 million. The College raised an additional $2.4 million through a capital campaign, including a $1 million lead grant from Greiner Industries.
Benefactors Frank and Sharon Greiner also spoke.
The dignitaries posed for a photo on the future site of the north building, which will house the metals fabrication and welding shop, as well as classrooms and locker space. Joining the dignitaries were second-, third- and fourth-grade students from Washington Elementary School.
“The facility is designed with young people in mind,” Griscom said. “The facility is enclosed in glass, so the elementary and middle school students who walk by every day can see what high-tech, high-paying technical jobs look like.”