An upgrade intended to double the size of the Business Classroom (BU) Building at the College of Southern Maryland La Plata campus is expected to be complete sometime in the spring of 2012.  Ground was also broken on phase II of the Prince Frederick campus in September.

The purpose of the upgrades to the BU building at the La Plata campus is to double the size of the building as well as modernizing the facilities, labs and keeping up with growth.  The old building was one story and housed business, economic and legal studies as well as computer labs and other classrooms.  The new building is two stories and 25,000 square feet.   As demand for non-credit classes grows and demand for community colleges grows in the midst of prolonged economic woes.

The original BU building was built next to the Administration office in 1968 when it was the Charles County Community College.   The next major project at the La Plata campus will be upgrades to the Career Education (CE) building, which is in dire need of upgrades.  It’s part of a continuing effort to upgrade, modernize and expand facilities at all three College of Southern Maryland campuses.

Groundbreaking for phase II of the Prince Frederick campus was held in September.  The second building at Prince Frederick will add 30,000 square feet of space for classrooms, faculty offices, computer labs and a fitness center.  3,000 square feet at the facility will be dedicated to the Center for Nuclear Energy Training.

“Every year, our enrollment continues to grow and we see that this is going to continue as the population gets larger,” CSM President Brad Gottfried said.  “Whether or not the economy stays poor, I think more and more people are going to be coming to community colleges.  At Prince Frederick, it’s a matter of expanding.  We only have one building there.  Ultimately, we’re going to be building a total of five as that campus grows. 

“For the La Plata campus, the most recent ones are renovation, updating but also providing new spaces for construction and office spaces so we can continue to grow our programs so people can get jobs.  I see that happening over the next five-six years.  You’ll see a continued approach to upgrading, renovating, whether it’s finishing BU or starting the CE renovations, fine arts or the Center for Trades and Energy Training.  We’re going to be busy.”

Contact Andy Marquis at andy.m@thebaynet.com