Blinn board approves construction items for the Bryan and RELLIS campuses

Bryan Campus Administration Building will begin construction this summer while the RELLIS Administration Building will open for the fall semester

February 15, 2022

The Blinn College District Board of Trustees authorized the College to name a construction manager at risk for the Bryan Campus Administration Building that will begin construction this summer and to purchase computer equipment for the RELLIS Campus Administration Building that will open this fall.

College administrators recommended that the board authorize the College to negotiate and execute a contract with J.T. Vaughn Construction, LLC, for construction manager at risk services related to the Bryan Campus Administration Building. The $30.95 million project includes an approximately 45,000-square-foot administration building at the location of the former Rivergate Church on Villa Maria Road. This facility will house Blinn’s bookstore, police department, and administrative offices, as well as student services currently located in the Central Administrative Services Building at the Tejas Shopping Center, including academic advising, enrollment services, and financial aid.

Additionally, Blinn will extend Nash Street to create a new campus entrance with an accompanying monument sign and demolish the existing adjacent structures. The project timeline calls for the administration building to be ready for occupation in fall 2023.

The board also authorized the College to negotiate and execute a contract with Dell for computer equipment for the RELLIS Campus Administration Building. Scheduled to open for the fall 2022 semester, the three-story, 80,000-square-foot facility located north of the Walter C. Schwartz Building will position Blinn for continued growth at the RELLIS Campus.

As the community college partner in the RELLIS Academic Alliance, Blinn offers foundational courses at the RELLIS Campus that seamlessly apply toward the related bachelor’s degrees offered by The Texas A&M University System regional universities and Stephen F. Austin State University. In Fall 2018, Blinn opened the Schwartz Building with 1,515 students, and Fall 2020 enrollment subsequently has grown to exceed 2,700 students.

The Administration Building will feature an engineering lab, computer science classroom, information technology lab, esports arena, student services suite, 19 lecture classrooms, study spaces, faculty and administrative suites, and meeting rooms. The project also includes faculty/staff and visitor parking, sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, a circular entry drive, and a plaza.

In other business, the board received a preliminary enrollment report for the 2021 winter minimester and the 2022 spring semester.