ELY – Construction work is wrapping up this week on the Timber Ridge student housing complex at Vermilion Community College. A ribbon cutting ceremony and open house for the new student housing complex will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

The 120-bed facility, in a four-unit townhouse complex, is located adjacent to the school’s existing dorm on the north side of campus. The $6 million project was initiated last spring and will be ready for students this school year.

Following years of planning, a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony was held last spring marking the beginning of construction of the new residence, called Timber Ridge, in a 26,000 square-foot complex on the north side of the VCC campus.

The new housing will replace the outdated 84-bed cluster of duplexes located nearby, resulting in a net gain of 36 beds for students.

Most students who attend VCC come from all over Minnesota as well as adjacent states. “It is critical for us to have housing that prospective students can envision being their home for a year or two,” said Bill Maki, president of the Northeast Higher Education District, last spring.

A large amount of vision and planning was necessary for the project. “It started with listening to our students,” Maki said, referring to their involvement in designing the housing units. “Just about all of them who were involved in this project are likely never to live in these units, but their advice, guidance and support along the way was critical for all of this to become a reality,” he said.

VCC Provost Shawn Bina endured many highs and lows involving the housing project. “The reality is, this project was built on the shoulders of those who came before me,” Bina said.

Back in 2007, under then Provost Sue Collins, the growth and update of the campus housing plan was identified as a long-term goal, according to Bina.

Initial plans for the project were drawn up in 2012. “Soon after that, we learned that pursuing general obligation bonding, which is how most academic buildings were funded, was not possible for a housing project,” Bina said. Area legislators, Minnesota state college officials, and city of Ely officials all came together to brainstorm a path to funding for the project. “This project has been a labor of love for our college and one that was riddled with numerous twists and turns along the way,” he said.

When construction bids for the project were opened the first time, in anticipation of starting the construction two years ago, the project was some $2 million over budget. “But the design team rebounded, doubled their efforts, and found a new path forward.” The project was slashed by 20 percent, essentially eliminating one building in the original five-building complex.

St. Paul-based architectural firm, Rafferty Rafferty Tollefson Lindeke Architects, designed the project. “Personally, all of us here at VCC know that you have been more than the principal architect on this project, you have been an invested partner and a great friend,” Bina said.

Also at the groundbreaking ceremony, MNSCU Trustee Tom Renier said. “VCC is unique for many reason. First, in addition to a strong liberal arts program, the college offers programs that are intimately connected with this region’s environment. Second, an impressive 90 percent of VCC’s students are full-time. That’s not typical for two-year colleges. Third, this college has an incredible geographic reach. Students come to Ely for an education from an astonishing number of Minnesota high schools, more than 200. These things make these residences absolutely necessary.”

What is today known as VCC started in 1922 as the Ely Junior College. The college moved to its current site in 1971 and was the first legislatively-endorsed two-year residential college in Minnesota in 1993. “We are still the only college with that distinction,” Bina said. “We operate much like a four-year college, in that we own our own dormitories and they are part of the budget process.”

VCC formed the Northeast Higher Education District in 1999 with four other colleges on the Iron Range to share administrative and human resources costs.

VCC is one of only seven schools in the country that are certified for National Park Service Ranger training. Other popular education programs at VCC include Natural Resources Technology, Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife Biology, and Outdoor Leadership, Watershed Science. “These are the niche programs that students come here for,” Bina said.

Other facilities improvements at VCC, through an increase in state bonding and the Iron Range Rehabilitation and Resources Board, include a $900,000 facelift for the Vermilion Hall residence, $600,000 in remodeling and renovation of the three natural resources laboratories, and a $500,000 remodel of the art room, including the constructionof an outdoor kiln.