ECC plans to shutter Fountain Square campus

It's only a matter of time before the Elgin Community College closes its Fountain Square Campus in downtown Elgin.

At an orientation meeting on Wednesday, about 100 staff members at the campus were told the building at 51 S. Spring St. would be shuttered by the end of December.

But trustees were less certain on a date, saying the building will close eventually because a renovation could cost at least $20 million and that money could be better spent on other projects closer to the main campus.

"At some point, that will occur," said Eleanor "Ellie" MacKinney, chairwoman of ECC's board of trustees, on closing the Foundation Square location.

"There is not a firm date. Definitely we're having conversations about our options at Fountain Square, but the programs are not in jeopardy. They will continue. It's not a programming issue. It's a facilities issue." The college has operated the approximately 55,000-square-foot building since the mid-1980s.

It serves about 2,500 to 3,000 people enrolled in classes for English as a Second Language, General Equivalency Diplomas or work force training, and about 100 faculty members and staffers are stationed there, said Sharon Konny, ECC's vice president of business and finance.

But the offices are oddly shaped and there is no room around the building to expand, she said.

Konny said it would cost at least $20 million to renovate the build and bring it up to standards comparable to the west-side main campus off McLean Boulevard, so officials are taking a hard look at their next move.

"It really made us stop and think what we really want to do," she said. "It's almost cost prohibitive to renovate it, but we don't have plans to close it."

Konny said her staff will make a recommendation to trustees within the next six to eight months.

She also noted that operations at the Fountain Square location will continue status quo for the fall and spring 2010 semesters.

One option is to move some students and faculty members to a 35,000-square-foot building in the 400 block of Renner Road near the main campus.

The ECC board recently gave the green light to buy the Suburban Plastics Co. building for $1.9 million as part of its long-term facilities plan.

Konny said the college probably won't take possession of the building until mid- to late-October.

"There's no way it is going to be operational for classrooms by the end of the calendar year," Trustee John Duffy said of the Renner site. "We can't really close the Fountain Square campus until we have room for the students."

Konny said the board's primary focus right now is moving forward on a March 2010 groundbreaking and $81 million worth of construction on the new Health Careers Center of Excellence building and a new library.