St. Clair College is pleased to announce the official launch of a major building project on its South Windsor Campus, as it seeks to address the issue of a student housing shortage.
A new International student residence will provide on-campus housing for 512 students, within walking distance to buildings and on a bus route to the downtown Windsor campus.
The developer and manager of the new residence is Global Education Mihome (GEM) Corporation, the College's educational partners who own and administer the private school Ace Acumen Academy in North York and Mississauga.
Officials from the GEM Corporation and Z Modular join College President Patti France at the 'ground moving' ceremony.
"St. Clair College has been a leading proponent of public college-private partnerships in Ontario for some time," said David Piccini, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Colleges and Universities. "This new residence is an example of the potential economic benefits partnerships between Ontario's public colleges and private education providers can offer."
The construction of this unique building involves an innovative process using Z-Modular units constructed in a factory and shipped to the site. The units will be stacked and connected through a phase-by-phase process that will see a completed building within approximately 45 days. The Z-Modular Corporation is a subsidiary of Zekelman Industries, which is owned by the College's corporate patrons Barry and Stephanie Zekelman.
"This welcome wave of newcomers desperately needs a home away from home and this new residence project will provide just that," said St. Clair College President Patti France.
Nancy Jammu-Taylor, chairwoman of the College's Board of Governors, said as enrolment skyrocketed during the past several years, the availability of affordable local housing reached "a crisis stage."
"The board was confronted with a new issue: not dealing with the quality of education, but rather with our students' quality of life."
Jammu-Taylor noted that the project is "a truly collaborative, public/private sector effort" between the College, GEM, Z-Modular and its parent company, Zekelman Industries. "It will ease the stress of hundreds of our students as they find comfortable, convenient and affordable accommodations right on campus."
Kiara Clement, president of the Student Representative Council, said the development will alleviate the burden for International students of finding a place to live after arriving in Canada. "We commend the administration and its project partners for recognizing the dire need for more campus house, and for doing something to remedy this shortcoming."
