By Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin
dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
ANDERSON - Ivy Tech will have a high-profile location for a new campus after school and city officials Tuesday announced its future home along Interstate 69.
The Anderson branch of the statewide community college will build its new $20 million campus on a 40-acre strip of farmland between 60th Street and I-69, west of Exit 26, officials announced at a city hall news conference.
"I thank you for your persistence and believing in our community," Mayor Kris Ockomon told school officials during the announcement. "It means a lot to us."
The new campus "allows us to service students who in turn will work in the services and industries that serve us," said Ivy Tech Regional Chancellor Gail Chesterfield. She said the announcement was long overdue, particularly in light of rapidly rising enrollment at its 53rd Street campus.
"We've outgrown our facility many times over," Chesterfield said.
Through an arrangement the Anderson Redevelopment Commission approved Tuesday after the announcement, the city will purchase the land over five years for $20,000 per acre from landowner Paddy Jamerson. Because Ivy Tech only builds on donated property, the city will in turn give the land to the school.
Jamerson, who served as Anderson Police Chief from 1972 to 1980, said he was approached by Ockomon regarding a future home for Ivy Tech. "He asked me if I had any land along 69, and I told him I did," Jamerson said.
Over the course of just a few days, an agreement in principal emerged, Jamerson said.
"I'm glad to do it," he said of selling land that likely would have a higher commercial price tag. "I think it's a good thing for Anderson, a good thing for Ivy Tech and a good thing for Madison County."
Ockomon said Ivy Tech's expansion would bring new jobs to the city and county and its increased visibility would be a lure to professionals.
"This is an asset in Anderson," he said. "We're turning a corner, we're staying positive and making things happen."
State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, also praised the selection of the site near I-69 and said the new campus was "essential to our community going forward."
Ivy Tech-Anderson Vice Chancellor James Willey said construction on the new 85,000-square-foot campus building could begin in the spring. "A lot depends on the release of state dollars" that have been approved to fund construction. He said the current campus on 53rd Street will continue to operate, with its future emphasis shifting to health services studies.
Willey said there could be additional future construction phases at the new campus site, such as a conference center and more room for emerging technologies.
Sally DeVoe, an Ivy Tech regional board member and executive director for the Madison County Community Foundation, said such enhancements to the plans for Ivy Tech's campus will rely largely on contributions. "We need to figure out how to raise the support of the community."
Ivy Tech's East Central Region offers 38 associates degrees and technical certificates in more than 80 specialties in six schools: Business, Health Sciences, Public & Social Services, Education, Technology and Liberal Arts & Sciences. It offers affordable degree programs designed to meet community needs, and course credits transfer to other colleges and universities.
Ivy Tech estimates that 90 percent of students at the Anderson campus have Madison County roots and intend to continue to live and work in the county.