Crowder College Building $5M Campus in Jane, Mo.

Work is under way on Crowder College’s 30,000-SF satellite campus building off Highway 71 in Jane, Mo.

Construction on the project valued at $5 million began in December. The building should be ready in time for the spring 2014 semester, college spokesman Cindy Brown said.

The Neosho-based community college bought the 7.8-acre tract on Larry Neff Drive last year from Freeman Health Systems. The building was originally planned for a nearby 40-acre site the college owns, Brown said.

“Due to traffic light expenses, we opted for a location that already had traffic improvements,” she said.

The college will consider selling the 40-acre tract, which it bought in 2008 for $550,000.

Designed by Pellham Phillips Architects & Engineers of Springfield, Mo., the Jane campus will have six classrooms, two conference rooms, a student commons, five labs and two outdoor patios. It’s being built to meet LEED silver certification standards.

Nabholz Construction Corp. is the construction manager for the project.

The campus will offer nursing and general education classes, Brown said, and is expected to draw students from Arkansas as well as Missouri.

Starting with the fall 2013 semester, the college will have no out-of-state tuition fees — only in district and out of district, Brown said.

“This should be a big selling point for students in surrounding states as well as across the country,” she said.

The college serves a nine-county area in southwest Missouri, and had 5,590 students enrolled in the fall 2012 semester. Crowder opened a nursing school in Pineville, Mo., last fall.