Health Sciences Building Project Moving Forward at CPI

PLEASANT GAP — “Getting close to the finish line” is how a Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology official described the development and design phases of a new Health Sciences building at the campus.

CPI Vice President of Post-Secondary Education Todd Taylor used those words at the April 6 Bellefonte Area School Board meeting to update a project that initiated in 2015, then slowed drastically due to COVID-related and other delays.

Currently, the estimated cost of the facility is $17.716 million. The price tag will be offset by a $4 million state grant, awarded to CPI in 2017, and a $1 million multi-modal grant. CPI is continuing to seek more grant funding for the project.

Taylor cited the Transportation Training Center on CPI’s campus, which opened in 2013, as an example of how the balance of the project could be funded without addition costs to participating school districts. That $10 million building was paid for through grants and tuition funds.

“We built that and paid for that building in a year,” said Taylor. He added the project has received support from “all the major” health care providers in the region, which would supply jobs to the graduates from the programs.

“This has been in the works for a long time. We are not bringing something new. But it is at a point now where the funding is there,” said Taylor.

The 32,350-square-foot, three-story building will house degree granting programs on the grounds directly behind CPI’s main building, paralleled by Interstate 99. The 18 acres of land was purchased nearly two decades ago, said Taylor. The project was scaled back from the 45,000-square-feet building that was originally planned.

Associate, diploma and certificate programs in the fields of occupational therapy assistant, physical therapy assistant, surgical technician, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, nurse aide, healthcare management, medical technician, phlebotomy and more will be offered in the facility, said Taylor.

He said that as the world comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic, demands for the types of jobs that CPI trains students for is looking to see an uptick in the coming years.

CPI’s full administration team will have another meeting with the school board before the project is finalized.

Founded in 1969 as a career and technical school, CPI serves BASD along with Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley Area and State College Area school districts.

It also has more 1,300 adult learners who receive career training.

This story appears in the April 14-20 edition of the Centre County Gazette.