State Rep. Richard Lindsey of Centre, an early champion of the project, called the ground-breaking a historic occasion that will change the lives of the people in Cherokee County for generations to come.
The $21.8 million complex, which is expected to be completed in 2008, will include a two-story, 39,000-square-foot academic facility and a multifunctional arena with a seating capacity for 2,000 people.
Lindsey said the realization of what started as a dream shows what can be accomplished when people work together.
Renee Culverhouse, acting chancellor of the Alabama College System, said the purpose of a community college is to be part of the community and to give communities what they need.
The center, which started with the vision of Lindsey and state Sen. Larry Means of Attalla, is a “true partnership, which is what community colleges are all about,” Culverhouse said.
Means said if some doubted the project would succeed, they didn’t realize “how this community gets behind projects.”
Gov. Bob Riley said the Cherokee Center is important because it will help train a work force that will attract more high tech jobs to the area.
“This is one of those transitional days that happen in small communities,” he said.
The Cherokee campus helps the state “continue to have the best work force development policy,” Riley said.
Larry McCoy, acting president of Gadsden State Community College, said the Cherokee Center will bring together the best of both worlds – economic development and educational opportunities.
In a thriving community, education and economic development go hand in hand, he said.
“Every resident in Cherokee County has every reason to be optimistic about the future,” McCoy said.
The Gadsden State complex also will include a 300-seat hospitality/meeting room, and office and administrative space for the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, which gave up its building to make way for the center, which will be built on a 46-acre site at 801 Cedar Bluff Road in Centre.
The arena will be able to host basketball games as well as trade shows, said Robert Ledford, director of development for Gadsden State Community College.
More than 250 people attended the ground-breaking, and many of those made significant contributions to the effort to bring the campus to Centre. Representatives from the City of Centre and the Towns of Cedar Bluff, Gaylesville, Leesburg and Sand Rock, which made commitments to the project, were among those recognized for their help.
The symbolic ground-breaking will be followed by actual construction this summer, Ledford said
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