By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College signed a lease Wednesday for a state-of-the-art facility at the N.C. Research Campus.
Ray Paradowski, chairman of the RCCC board of trustees, and Dr. Carol Spalding, college president, signed the lease agreement. Steven Mersch, vice president for campus developer Castle & Cooke North Carolina, also signed.
Castle & Cooke will now complete a loan application and submit it to the lender, college spokesman Jeff Lowrance said. The lender will have 15 business days after receiving the application to lock in an interest rate, Lowrance said.
After repeated delays due to the economic downturn, Castle & Cooke should start construction of the 62,000-square-foot building this spring. The $26 million building could open in time for RCCC’s fall 2010 semester.
The state will provide about $3 million per year to RCCC for lease payments and operating costs. The college will lease the facility from Castle & Cooke for 20 years.
RCCC will move its biotechnology program to the new building. The college is expected to train thousands of people to work at the biotechnology hub in downtown Kannapolis.