MGCC Classes Moving Downtown

MGCC Classes Moving Downtown New Center Opening In BV Next Year

When Mountain Gateway Community College’s Wilson Workforce Training Center opens next year in the former Courtesy Motors building on Forest Avenue in Buena Vista, MGCC will be vacating the Rockbridge Regional Center at 35 Vista Links Drive. MGCC classes that have been meeting at the Vista Links Drive facility will relocate into the McCormick building that’s on Forest Avenue, adjacent to the Wilson Workforce Center.

The adjacent structures in downtown Buena Vista that are undergoing major renovations are to have a combined 24,000 square feet of floor space, compared to 15,000 square feet in the Vista Links Drive facility. The Wilson Workforce Center has 19,000 square feet of floor space and the McCormick building has 5,000 square feet.

The two adjacent buildings “will almost have a campus feel to them,” said Dr. John Rainone, MGCC president, in an interview with The News-Gazette last week. “These two buildings will be connected. There will be landscaping, and some classrooms [within the two structures] will be interchangeable.”

In an Oct. 2 letter to Buena Vista City Manager Jason Tyree, Rainone notified the city that MGCC would not be renewing the lease on the Vista Links facility when it’s next up for renewal on July 31, 2025. “As we transition toward our expansion at 2019/2045 Forest [Avenue], we are excited to consolidate all of our operations into these new facilities,” Rainone wrote.

Although not unexpected, the MGCC board took formal action when it made the decision to not renew the lease at its Sept. 16 meeting.

Buena Vista’s Public Recreational Facilities Authority owns the Vista Links property. MGCC’s Rockbridge Regional Center opened there in 2008. MGCC operated the center under an initial seven-year lease, with two subsequent five-year renewals of the lease. Under an inter-jurisdictional agreement, Rockbridge County, Buena Vista and Lexington have each been making a portion of the debt payments, based on the number of students from each locality enrolled at the center each year.

Tyree said the city, which will be solely responsible for making the remaining debt payments on the property as of next August, will be looking for a new use for the 17-year-old building. Among the possibilities he mentioned are a school, the courts or an economic development project. A committee may be formed to study the options and make a recommendation.

Remaining debt on the center, which was constructed for $2.5 million, is about $1.8 million – approximately $449,000 on one loan and $1.34 million on another one, according to Steve Bolster, the city’s finance director. Combined payments on the two loans are currently a little over $47,000 annually. Under the present payback terms, the smaller loan would be paid off in 2037 and the larger one in 2044.

Renovations to the McCormick building are to be completed in December, said Rainone. The front portion of the building, after having undergone earlier modifications, was used for classes during the 2023-2024 academic year. Renovations to the Wilson Workforce Training Center building are slated to be completed next May.

The $7 million construction project is expected to provide an economic boost to Buena Vista’s downtown, with students and faculty being within walking distance of restaurants and retail outlets in the downtown area.

Projected enrollment for the first year at MGCC’s downtown facilities has been set at 200, with anticipated enrollment growing to between 400 and 500 by the third year, according to Rainone.

Practical nursing, massage therapy, general studies and liberal arts are among the classes being taught at the Vista Links Drive center that will relocate downtown. Classes to be taught at the Wilson Workforce Training Center are to include welding, HVAC, building trades, machinery, diesel mechanics, health care and commercial license driving.

The renovations to repurposed buildings have been made possible by federal grants and private fundraising. Rainone emphasized that no state dollars have been used for this renovation work. The construction projects have been the beneficiaries of a $650,000 Industrial Revitalization Fund grant and a $3.1 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant.

“Buena Vista has given us amazing support,” said Rainone, noting that city staff wrote the applications for the federal grants.

MGCC has had conversations with the Buena Vista and Rockbridge County school divisions about having local high school students attend the workforce training center during the school day. “Our goal is to provide a trades workforce and to keep people in the region,” said Rainone.