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DMACC Urban Campus to get $24 million facelift

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Even downtown Des Moines leaders have been known to overlook Des Moines Area Community College’s Urban Campus, which is tucked away between Seventh and Ninth streets just south of University Avenue. However, a $24 million construction and renovation project promises to provide much-needed updates to create a safer, more cohesive — and visible — campus.  

The first phase of DMACC’s Building Community project, which is scheduled to begin in the spring, will be construction of a new 60,000-square-foot Student Services and STEM facility, said Anne Howsare Boyens, provost of DMACC Urban Campus. 

The project is part of a five-year renovation and construction plan for the campus, the majority of which will be funded by the existing county property tax levy for DMACC. A capital campaign that’s now in its early stages aims to engage community and business partners to contribute to the projects as well. 

The new building, expected to be completed by October 2020, will be followed by a significant renovation of Building 1, the original campus building that was constructed more than 35 years ago. A centerpiece of the renovation will move the library to the central atrium of the building as part of a media center that brings the library — a resource that many students now overlook — front and center. 

Plans also call for adding about 2,800 square feet onto the Betts Building on campus to provide more space for the Ford ASSET program, which was moved to the Urban Campus from the Ankeny Campus this fall.  

More changes are ahead this spring at Urban Campus. The DMACC board of directors last week approved a move and expansion of the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families. The center’s new location at 1171 Seventh St. will double its space from its current location at 801 University Ave. and make it more convenient to the campus.

Among the planned exterior features of the new campus building are two giant electronic art walls, which will be used to display students’ art projects. “I would like for [the new building] to be a little bit of a beacon,” Howsare Boyens said. “I would like for it to call attention to the work that we do here.”  

About half of the approximately 5,000 students enrolled at the Urban Campus are people of color, making it the most diverse college campus in the state, she said. It also has a significant population of noncredit students, including many immigrants and people working on high school equivalency courses. 

Howsare Boyens said the goal of the fundraising campaign is to raise between $5 million and $7 million. Of that amount, $1.1 million has already been raised. A DMACC alumna, Dotty Thurston, gave a $1 million gift with her husband, Stan. Additionally, retired DMACC professor Hal Chase, with his wife, Avril, donated $100,000 for the library renovation. 

Construction bids for the new Student Services and STEM building will be solicited early next year, with groundbreaking expected sometime in the spring.

To see a virtual tour of the planned Student Services and STEM building, click here.

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