New Castle, PA- BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, founded to serve a Pennsylvania county under-represented by higher education and recognized since for its economic impact, will relocate next summer to a new home being developed in Shenango Township.
Butler County Community College trustees Wednesday approved a lease that will move BC3’s first additional location outside of Butler County from Lawrence County’s Union Township to Shenango Commons, which was once known as Lawrence Village Plaza.
Trustees authorized a 10-year agreement with Shenango Commons, New Castle, that will introduce BC3 to neighboring businesses such as Hugger Mugger Tasty Recipe, Pizza Joe’s, Great Wall and Coney Island restaurants; Ascent Pickleball; The Epic Find, a multi-vendor marketplace; Leaps and Bounds gymnastics center, Grossetti Performance fitness center and Shenango Credit Union.
Immediately behind Shenango Commons sprawls the 35-acre Shenango Township Community Park, which features picnic pavilions, a walking trail, and volleyball, tennis and bocce courts.
An artist’s rendering depicts a possible design of the exterior of a Shenango Commons site to be occupied by Butler County Community College in Shenango Township, Lawrence County, by summer 2025.
“Feel the energy at Shenango Commons”
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing today operates from a solitary building at 2849 W. State St. The college’s 10-year lease with B.C. Union, New Castle, expires June 30, 2025.
“There were a lot of things that we took into consideration when looking for a new location,” said Megan M. Coval, BC3’s interim president. “This new space is going to be so wonderful and beneficial for our students as it relates to not only the location itself, but also to the amenities that are nearby. It will be a better fit for BC3 in Lawrence County moving forward.”
Sean Carroll has been director of BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing since 2016.
“You can feel the energy at Shenango Commons with the new businesses coming in,” Carroll said. “This will give our students more things to do when they are not in class, especially those who don’t drive. They are sort of limited here (in Union Township) as far as where they can go.”
Those students will benefit businesses within Shenango Commons, Carroll said.
“Now,” Carroll said, “they will have many options.”
“The bus will serve Shenango Commons”
Buses operated by the New Castle Area Transit Authority arrive 24 times a day between 6:27 a.m. and 5:57 p.m. at Shenango Commons, according to its schedule posted online.
“The bus,” said Brian Opitz, BC3’s executive director of operations, “will serve Shenango Commons.”
BC3 will occupy the 12,125 square-foot space at 2658 Ellwood Road, with 8,554 square feet being used initially and the remaining 3,571 reserved for possible expansion. BC3 could seek an additional tenant to defray an increased cost associated with Shenango Commons finishing and the occupants utilizing the reserved space at the rear of the building.
The college will pay $160,955.04 annually for the first five years of the agreement and $182,095.81 annually for the second five. The agreement contains provisions to change those payments should BC3 seek to develop the reserved space.
The reduction of leased space by 12,000 square feet between the facility in Union Township and that in Shenango Township will save BC3 an estimated $80,000 per year, according to Jake Friel, BC3’s interim vice president for administration and finance.
An artist’s rendering depicts a possible design of the interior of a Shenango Commons site to be occupied by Butler County Community College in Shenango Township, Lawrence County, by summer 2025.
Shenango Commons will prepare the location to house BC3, Opitz said.
“It’s going to contain the amenities that we have identified as important at our other additional locations,” Opitz said. “If you were to consider BC3 @ Armstrong, one thing that we like to provide is student lounge space and study space. It will have tutoring space, testing space, a computer lab and about six classrooms of various sizes.”
BC3 relocated BC3 @ Armstrong from Manor Township in Armstrong County to a new facility in Ford City in 2023.
BC3 offers affordable associate degree and credit certificate programs, and noncredit Lifelong Learning personal enrichment opportunities to Lawrence County residents.
“Excited about … public presence of BC3”
More than 160 students attended BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Sharla Anke, BC3’s dean of institutional research and planning. More than 120 are enrolled this fall, Anke said.
More than 80 adults attended Lifelong Learning courses at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Paul Lucas, director of the program. Twenty-three courses are scheduled this fall at BC3’s location in Union Township, Lucas said.
BC3 established its Lawrence County location in 1989 within the Lawrence County Area Vocational-Technical School in Shenango Township, and also held classes in the Lawrence County Learning Center in New Castle before moving in 2008 to its current 25,244-square-foot facility.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in September 2018 became the first nonprofit educational institution to receive an Economic Development Impact Award from the Lawrence County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp.
An artist’s rendering depicts a possible design of the exterior of a Shenango Commons site to be occupied by Butler County Community College in Shenango Township, Lawrence County, by summer 2025.
“I am excited about the stability, the recognition, the public presence of BC3,” said Mike Wish, owner and founder of Shenango Commons. “You will be bringing a young element here. I think it’s a wonderful synergistic use where BC3 students are going to be able to patronize the businesses. It will have all the things you might find on a huge campus. A gym. Restaurants. A walking trail. A pickleball facility. All of these things are going to be very synergistic for both the BC3 community and for the Shenango Commons community.
“Shenango,” Wish said, “has never really had a downtown. And if it did, it was that plaza 40 years ago. I think we are reconstituting a downtown for Shenango with community-centric uses.”
“An excellent fit”
BC3 students will also use a natural science laboratory at Shenango High School, which is adjacent to Shenango Commons, Opitz said.
“BC3 being located in a plaza that is near a high school and restaurants, gyms and parks, is an excellent fit,” Coval said. “We’re excited about what this future location will hold in terms of what it will mean for our students, and what it will mean to further embed ourselves in this wonderful community.”
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing was established two years after BC3 @ Cranberry in Cranberry Township, Butler County.
BC3 created BC3 @ LindenPointe, Hermitage, Mercer County, in fall 1995; BC3 @ Brockway, Brockway, Jefferson County, in 2013; and BC3 @ Armstrong in 2015.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing offers associate degrees in transfer programs and in career programs, and a certificate program that takes one year or less to complete.
“The value that BC3 brings,” Carroll said, “is an educated populace.”
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s fall open house is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Union Township location. Prospective students can apply free at the open house.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing this fall is also hosting BC3 Lifelong Learning courses in computers and software, outdoor adventure, painting, personal and professional development, and in yoga and tai chi.
The college’s BC3 @ LindenPointe facility, owned by the BC3 Education Foundation, was put up for sale for $3.1 million June 1. The college continues to evaluate BC3’s future in Mercer County, Coval said.
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