Austin Community College breaks ground on Round Rock campus

Austin Community College breaks ground on Round Rock campus

By Terry Hanley Friday, 06 February 2009

Members of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees, volunteers and officials from across Williamson County gathered on Feb. 5 at a groundbreaking ceremony for Austin Community College's Round Rock Campus. Several speakers including ACC President Steven Kinslow, John and Charles Avery and Round Rock Mayor Allen McGraw, addressed the crowd and expressed their excitement about the new campus.

The campus — located south of University Boulevard adjacent to CR 112 — will cover 598,000 sq. ft. and will accommodate up to 11,000 students, eventually making it ACC's largest campus.

"Today we have taken the ACC-Round Rock relationship to the next level," said Kinslow. "With today's groundbreaking, Round Rock is showing its commitment to higher education"

Nan McRaven, Chair of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees, said that enrollment at ACC was up 14 percent for the current semester and is excited that local residents will be able to take advantage of in district tuition at the ACC Round Rock campus.

"What a great year this has been," McRaven said. "ACC is celebrating 35 years this year of providing access to quality education to Central Texas."

McGraw said that the ACC Round Rock campus is one piece in a larger puzzle in Central Texas' process of working on a master plan for higher education in Round Rock. A skydiver landed at the groundbreaking site to deliver a proclamation read by McGraw, who declared the day as Austin Community College day in Round Rock.

John Avery, whose family has owned the 1,200-acre farmland that the new campus resides on since his Swedish ancestors came to Williamson County in 1854, said that the first phase of the campus would consist of four buildings that will span 274,000 sq. ft.

His brother, Charles Avery, thanked people that he called instrumental making the new campus a reality and talked about the economic impact the new institution would have on the area.

"This is the greatest economic stimulus package you can imagine," Charles Avery said.

Construction on phase one of the campus will start this month and is expected to be ready for students in 2010.