Hartford Business Journal

18 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 3, 2023 COVID, for example, students were doing clinical work in an auditorium with a leaking roof." In addition, Cheng said, some of the building's equipment — including air handling units that provide heated and cooled air — have reached the end of their service life and need replacement. A limited number of elevators also presents logistical challenges. "With only five elevators servicing the 11 floors of the building, there is high demand for their use," he said. "That leads to frequent outages for maintenance and repairs. The issue impacts the entire campus and creates bottlenecks." Upgraded space would also send a message that all students deserve an education in a quality campus, Cheng said, noting many pupils who attend the college come from challenged socioeconomic backgrounds. "If we are serious about closing the equity and achievement gaps, there is value in investing in all our campuses," Cheng said. "Decisions were made throughout the years that ultimately led to investments in other campuses, more suburban campuses around the state. It shows our values in where we choose to invest our money." Cheng said a significant portion of any new building will be dedicated to health care, since about 30% of Capital Community College students are enrolled in a health or nursing program. There would also be significant space for business and IT programs. Part of the goal of a new campus would be to create stronger partner- ships with private industry, Cheng said. Real estate options Maintaining Capital Community College's campus downtown would be a key priority for the city, which for years has tried to build up its image as a college town. It's had some wins and losses along the way. A major victory came in 2017 when UConn debuted its new Hartford campus on Front Street as part of a $140 million investment. The satellite campus was formerly located in West Hartford. UConn also has a large presence in Constitution Plaza, where its grad- uate business and other programs are located. The University of St. Joseph in 2011 launched a new pharmacy doctoral program downtown. However, the West Hartford-based university, located on the city's outskirts, relocated that program to its main campus last year. Meantime, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in February put its Hartford campus on Windsor Street up for sale after the New York-based school scaled back its presence in recent years amid an embrace of virtual learning. RPI said it plans to look for smaller space within the city. Larry Levere, an office broker with Hartford-based Sentry Commercial, said Capital Community College has numerous options downtown depending on what path it chooses. There are several empty buildings that could be suitable for redevelopment, including Rensselaer's 13-acre campus, which has an eight-story classroom building and amphitheater, plus a parking garage and surface parking with 860 spaces. The old YMCA building on Jewell Street has been vacant for years and the 304,413-square-foot mid-rise office/retail complex at 242 Trumbull St. was put up for sale last year amid a high office vacancy rate. Both of those properties are owned by Northland. There's also the empty former Xerox and state office building at 25 Sigourney St. In terms of potential ground-up devel- opment, the U.S. General Services Administration is currently scouting downtown locations for a new $335 million federal courthouse building. Last fall, the federal agency iden- tified three potential parking lot sites for the planned 281,000-square-foot building, including 10 Ford St. and the properties located at the corners of Allyn, Church and High streets; and Capitol Avenue and Buckingham, Hudson and West streets. Whichever sites aren't chosen for the courthouse could be considered by Capital Community College, Levere said. If CCC leases space it could target several office buildings with high vacancy rates. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, 23.2% of downtown Hartford's 9.7 million square feet of office space was identified as available, according to brokerage firm CBRE. "I think residents and students are critical to the vibrancy of downtown Hartford, so I am hoping that every effort will be made to keep CCC downtown," Levere said. CAPITAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE ENROLLMENT SCHOOL YEAR FOR-CREDIT ENROLLMENT NON-CREDIT ENROLLMENT 2020 2,715 1,162 2021 2,474 626 2022 2,395 694 Source: Capital Community College Larry Levere 2 0 2 3 APRIL 23-25, 2023 APRIL 23-25, 2023 UNCASVILLE, CT UNCASVILLE, CT T R I S T A T E S H R M . C O M WITH OVER 25 SPEAKERS MULTIPLE NETWORKING EVENTS AT AN AWARD-WINNING VENUE AND DESTINATION NEW ENGLAND'S LARGEST HUMAN RESOURCE & BUSINESS CONFERENCE

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