The soil was so wet Thursday morning that the ceremonial ground-breaking at Lamar State College-Orange was moved inside to the Student Center gym. Dry dirt was placed on plastic sheets so the officials could put on their hard hats and shovel the dirt to kick off the construction of a new all-purpose academic building.
Dr. Michael Shahan, president of the college, said the multi-purpose building will be 31,000 square feet with seven modern classrooms with the latest technology. The building will also include a grand room to be used by the college and the community. The room will have space for a sit-down dinner for 400 or a lecture for more than 700.
The design will allow the room to be divided into three smaller rooms to allow meetings of varying sizes.
Dr. Shahan praised State Senator Robert Nichols and State Representative Dade Phelan for getting the Texas Legislature to approve the money for the new building.
Senator Nichols said Representative Phelan managed to get on the House Appropriations Committee his freshman year in the legislature last year. Nichols during the session got on the Senate Finance Committee. With the two of them working on finances, they assured the funding for the building was kept in the state budget.
Dr. Shahan said he tried to get the funds in 2013 but was unsuccessful.
Dr. Brian McCall, chancellor of the Texas State University System, which oversees LSC-O, was scheduled to fly from Austin for the event. Bad weather Thursday morning made the pilot cancel the trip.
Senator Nichols said he had been in Austin and was planning to fly with the chancellor. After looking at the weather forecast last night, he and his aides decided to drive to Orange to assure he could attend.
The contractor for the project is SpawGlass, which has an office in Orange. Jerry Vandervoort of Orange is in charge of the local office.
The new building will be on Main Avenue at Second Street, north of the Allied Health Building. The LSC-O Foundation, a non-profit group of local citizens, helps acquire land for expansion. Dr. Shahan credited foundation board member Shane Johns for negotiating to get the property.
Foundation board members present Thursday were John Cash Smith, Shawn Oubre, Johns, Ross Smith, State Judge Courtney Arkeen, David Jones, Kathy Gunn and Stephen Lee. Dr. Shahan said board chair emeritus Carlton “Corky” Harmon was unable to attend.
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