OTC lays out construction goals in 20-year plan

The $20 million Center for Advanced Manufacturing is among the highlights of Ozarks Technical Community College’s 20-year facilities master plan.

Officials this morning unveiled the 20-year plan ahead of the community’s college’s 30th anniversary in April 2020, according to a news release.

“We have come a long way during those three decades,” OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon said in the release. “This gives our college leadership confidence that OTC is on firm footing, and we have a plan to carry us through the school’s golden anniversary.”

Dake Wells Architecture Inc., along with its national partner, Minneapolis-based Perkins & Will Inc., helped develop the master plan. The two firms also are designing the manufacturing center, which is planned for completion in 2022 on the east side of the 1001 E. Chestnut Expressway campus.

Other master plan highlights include:
• two parking garages to the north and west of campus;
• a student-life building that will contain a fitness center, bookstore, food services and study areas, among other amenities, planned south of OTC’s Information Commons West; and
• a life sciences building for allied health and general science courses located north of Chestnut Expressway and west of Sherman Avenue.

According to the release, construction timelines will depend on funding and community needs.