OTC breaks ground on $7.3M Republic center

Photos provided by Ozarks Technical Community College

The site was donated by the Bussey, Cox and Lipscomb families.

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Ozarks Technical Community College broke ground on a $7.3 million education center in Republic.

Rich Kramer Construction Inc. got started in late February on the 30,000-square-foot project designed by BatesForum LLC, said OTC spokeswoman Laura French. Photos provided by the school show dirt work is underway.

The development is funded through a voter-approved measure in April 2018 that gave the green light for new and renewed tax levies over a 20-year period.

“Thanks to the approval of the tax levies in April, we are able to build the OTC Republic center and make our programs more accessible to students living to the west of Springfield,” OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon said in the release.

The 7.7-acre site was donated by the Bussey, Cox and Lipscomb families and was named Bussey-Cox-Lipscomb Hall in their honor. The center will be located south of U.S. Highway 60 and northeast of Colorado Avenue near the Christian County line.

The center is expected to open to students in August 2020, according to the release.

In neighboring Nixa, OTC is working toward an August completion for a new agriculture building and greenhouse at its Richwood Valley Campus. The $2.1 million, 10,400-square-foot building was subject to a $7,906 charge when general contractor Crossland Construction Co. Inc. found and filled a sinkhole in December 2018, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

OTC also is planning a $20 million Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Technology at its Springfield campus.