HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, finalized the sale of its Lebanon campus building to the City of Lebanon on June 29.
The sale price of the 65,000-square-foot three-story building at 735 Cumberland St., Lebanon is $2.2 million.
HACC president and CEO John Sygielski said that, although the building has been sold, “HACC is committed to Lebanon and will remain in Lebanon.”
In a Jan. 28 LebTown column, he said the college “regularly reviews its real estate portfolio across the College to determine if it is beneficial to continue to own all of its property.”
At that time, he said HACC was using about 50% of the building. Its sale will allow the college to retire the nearly $1.4 million bond debt on the property.
Read More: [Letter] HACC is not leaving Lebanon
The intent to sell the building to the city was announced in December 2020. As part of the terms of the sale, the college will lease a portion of the building for at least five years at no additional cost. The college will occupy space on the third floor and retain laboratory space on the second floor of the building.
A few months prior to the sale, HACC began renovations to allow the community college to better serve the needs of its students. Renovations include construction on the third floor of the building and the setup of classrooms and common areas for the fall semester.
A variety of classes will be offered at the Lebanon campus this fall.
“Students at the Lebanon campus will continue to receive services to support them on their educational journey including a welcome center with in-person and remote services; financial aid via in-person and remote services; career services, and remote student orientation services,” Sygielski said.
Additionally, learning services such as academic advising, success coaching and student success initiatives will be available remotely. Military and veteran services will be available both in-person and remotely.
Library faculty will be available for in-person instruction in addition to continuing remote and virtual instruction. Library specialists, tutors and user support will also be working on campus.
Sygielski said there will be no impact to the instructors or professors other than the fact that they’ll be in closer proximity to each other.
“They will teach a variety of courses on campus and remotely during the fall semester, and on-campus support will be provided,” he explained, “As renovations are scheduled to be completed over the next coming months, HACC plans to offer more on-campus courses in the spring semester 2022.”
Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello has not yet responded to LebTown requests for comment regarding purchase of the building.
According to previous news reports, with the purchase of the HACC building, the City of Lebanon plans to relocate its offices from a building at 400 S. 8th St., which the city shares with Lebanon County offices. In January, the city agreed to sell its part of the municipal building to the county for $2.25 million.
At that time it was reported that proceeds from the sale will help fund the purchase and renovation of the HACC building.
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