Fencing is up and work has begun to demolish the old student center on the Northwest College campus so a new building can rise in its place.

Before demolition begins in earnest, NWC trustees toured the building and received updates on the project from President Lisa Watson and Facilities Director Dennis Quillen on Feb. 13, prior to the monthly board meeting. A few trustees took a few swings with the sledgehammer themselves on the DeWitt Student Center’s interior walls.

Trustees approved the $23 million construction project last year. State dollars and funding from the NWC Foundation will allow the college to be under its budget with a total institution cost — to the college and foundation — of $11.3 million. That money will all be paid from money saved or raised for this purpose.

Construction on the overall $23,421,663 project, designed by Hord Coplan Macht, is underway with the facility scheduled to open in August 2024. Located on the same footprint as the DeWitt Student Center, the building will house NWC’s dining hall and food service operations in addition to a coffee bar, student lounge, student activities center, and state-of-the-art study and instructional spaces. Offices for resident life, campus security and student success, an area for student clubs and a multi-purpose community meeting room are also included.

An academic lab for the Outdoor Education and Aerial Adventure Operations programs is another feature, along with a new location for the NWC Recreation Co-Op, providing better access to the service NWC offers local community members.

The plan for a new student center dates to 2014 when it was identified as the number one priority in the NWC Facilities Master Plan.

“The DeWitt Center was built in the 1960s and is no longer able to serve the needs of the College,” Watson said in an earlier release announcing the bid award. “The building was built during a time when codes and ADA requirements were much different. The mechanical and electrical systems in the building date back to the original construction, and while we’ve periodically made upgrades, those systems are failing.”

The current center’s split level construction also presented challenges with ADA compliance, and its design limited the food service operation, rendering it functionally obsolete, and unable to meet contemporary standards for a successful dining program.

Following the goals set forth in the college’s strategic plan, the replacement effort kicked off in 2016, with college officials working closely with the state construction department to design a facility that would best meet the needs of NWC students and the community.