A new 200-bed residence hall for students and 10-unit housing complex for faculty, as well as a renovated dining hall at Coahoma Community College was part of a proposal made before the college's board of trustees on Monday, Jan. 14.
Dwan “Dee” Brown from P3 Group Inc. spoke in front of the Coahoma Community College and Coahoma Early College High School board about making facility and food service improvements campuswide at no cost to the institution.
Brown, who is also overseeing the city of Clarksdale’s plan to build a sports complex and convention center at no cost to city taxpayers, brought representatives from three companies to the board meeting that would be working with him. Those representatives were Roger Baum, the vice president of public-private partnerships for Core Construction; Robert Moore, the director of business development for Thompson Hospitality; and Nathaniel Clark, the managing principal of Chasm Architecture.
At the end of the agreement, CCC would own everything with a lease-purchase agreement where the title transfers to the college, Brown said.
Brown said his team at P3 Group Inc. has a bonding capacity of $1.2 billion and the ability to finance up to $74 million in-house.
“What we have identified with residents is we will build a new student housing complex, which will be used for an apartment-style living for the students, that will consist of approximately 200 beds,” Brown said. “So that will be a new construction. Also, we identified a need for new faculty housing. So we talked about 10 new faculty housing units. The style may be apartment or townhouse. Again, that’s where the collaboration comes in.”
Brown said preliminary ideas are given for each scenario before the college determines what direction to follow.
“On the renovation piece, the dining hall will be completely renovated,” he said.
Brown also said a $25,000 to $30,000 campuswide investment rate audit would be done at no cost to CCC. The college's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems would be reviewed during the audit. Brown said a new HVAC system may be needed.
“One of the things that a lot of institutions don’t realize is that when you’re running 30-year-old equipment, you’re using three, four times more electricity than you would use on newer equipment,” he said.
In addition to looking at the HVAC, Brown said mechanical systems, toilets, sinks and windows would also be reviewed.
“We’ll look at your street lights,” Brown said. “We’ll also look at controls.”
Brown said, currently, CCC requires human beings to turn the lights off at night, but having controls in place would be better.
“Making those sorts of changes deeply impact the bottom line,” Brown said. “This method is not a new method.”
Brown said Ohio State University just completed a similar type of audit with another company.
Board member Bennie Brown expressed his approval for the project.
“I’m very impressed,” he said. “I’ve heard about these type of projects. I didn’t think I would get the opportunity to meet some of them (people who do these types of projects).”
Bennie Brown made a motion to move the project forward, but at the time of the presentation, the board did not have a quorum.
Following much discussion, it was understood CCC president Valmadge Towner would continue to talk with Brown about moving forward, but nothing was voted on and the project is still in preliminary stages.
Towner said two other companies had approached him about doing similar projects, but their proposals would have put CCC in debt for the next 30 years.
“There was a lot of trepidation of getting into debt because the way this community demographically is just shifting or moving and leaving, it was particularly difficult for me to present that type of proposal to you to go into debt,” Towner said. “Maybe three months ago, tops, this proposal came up where we would not incur indebtedness.”
In this case, Towner said, the companies involved will be making the investment. He added construction would be funded through room fees and the student meal plan, noting it would cost an extra $50 for the new dorms.
He said the company that does the audit would get paid based on the amount of money CCC saves by having one done.
Towner said students have been involved in many of the group meetings prior to Brown's presentation.
“This is not a Facebook-type social media want to make a big splash,” Towner said. “I’m not into bling, bling. I don’t do stuff for show. I do stuff because there’s really a substantive need. Whether you do it or not, there is a need.
"It does not matter who is here -- a board member or a president. There is a need. It has nothing to do with using Core or Dee or whoever it is.”
Towner said he wishes the media was not present because the projects are not for show and he would like to make the improvements quietly.
However, he stressed there is a need.
Towner said CCC is short bed wise, unlike in 1989, when he graduated from the school. He added students at the school want their own space and to live in a dorm.
“Students worry about their stomachs,” Towner said. “They want to sleep well and eat well.”
