Mohawk covets Expositor building
November 25, 2009
Wade Hemsworth
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/679004
Mohawk College is planning to move its Brantford campus to the Brantford Expositor building, a downtown landmark and home to the newspaper for the past 114 years.
The college said it has yet to complete the purchase of the 45,000-square-foot building, but hopes to have a deal in place soon, with an eye to having 2,000 students there as early as September.
"It would be a great flagship for Mohawk in Brantford," said spokesperson Jay Robb.
He said the college needs support from the federal, provincial and city governments to make the $10-million downtown campus a reality.
Mohawk is looking for government help to cover the price of the Dalhousie Street property, renovations to the building and the purchase of at least one other nearby property that would give Mohawk room to expand to 4,000 students, compared to 2,000 now studying at its Elgin Street campus in an industrial subdivision.
Talks between the city and the college are taking place in-camera because they concern the purchase of property, but Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock said in an interview he hopes for a resolution within the next week.
The mayor said the city is eager to reach a deal since post-secondary education has given so much momentum to Brantford's downtown redevelopment over the past 10 years.
"If it's possible to pull all the pieces together, we strongly support Mohawk's move to downtown Brantford," Hancock said. "We think it would be good for everyone."
Wilfrid Laurier and Nipissing universities now have 2,800 students downtown, with both planning to grow enrolment in Brantford.
Between Mohawk and the universities, there could be as many as 19,000 students studying in downtown Brantford within the next 25 years. By comparison, McMaster University is home to about 20,000 undergraduates.
"The dynamics are moving faster than we even had anticipated just a few years ago," the mayor said.
Mohawk's Brantford plans include creating educational collaborations with Laurier and Nipissing that would parallel links the college has built with McMaster in such areas as nursing and engineering technology.
The Expositor would move its operations to a new location better suited to its modern needs, the newspaper said in an editorial.
The college is planning to make Brantford the home of its faculty of community and urban studies, which would include programs in policing, early childhood education, recreation, child and youth worker and personal support worker training.