Students at MacEwan University’s west end campus will be moving downtown as the post-secondary institution expands.
On Wednesday morning, plans for a new Centre for Arts and Culture were unveiled, and the province announced a $30 million funding commitment for the project.
Deputy Premier Dave Hancock said the province will provide $10 million a year, over the next three years, to build the centre.
The money will come from the Building Alberta Plan, announced in last week’s budget.
“It’ll be quite an extraordinary place and I would argue that there’s not a university in Canada right now that would have anything remotely closed to what we are going to build,’ said MacEwan University President Dr. David Atkinson.
The new space will allow the University to consolidate its operations, and will mean the university can expand its student body from 13,000 students to 17,000 students.
The province is providing about a fifth of the cost for the centre.
The university will pay for the other $120 million through the sale of the west and Mill Woods campus buildings, internal revenue and private fundraising.
Construction on the building is expected to start late this summer, and the centre is planned to open in the fall of 2017.
With files from Bill Fortier
