GTCC plans to start construction of the first phase of its new aviation center in the second half of 2025, according to college president Anthony Clarke.
It’s set to be located on the college’s Cameron Campus, which opened in 2014 just northwest of Greensboro, near Colfax, Oak Ridge and the Piedmont Triad Airport.
“With the needs of the current aviation companies already here in the Triad and needs of new companies like Boom (Supersonic) and Marshall (Aerospace), this new facility will allow GTCC to increase the capacity of our aviation programs by 40% going from 400 to 600 students,” Clarke said in a response to questions from the News & Record.
Clarke said the school also is in early discussions with Guilford County Schools to create an aviation-focused early or middle college institution on the Cameron Campus. Guilford County Schools currently operates other early and middle college programs, which allow high school students to take college classes and receive college credits, on the campuses of several local colleges, including other GTCC locations.
Overhead view, GTCC's planned new aviation center for its Cameron campus
Artist's rendering of what GTCC's planned new aviation center for its Cameron campus will look like.
Clarke said GTCC believes there are options to provide classroom and lab space to a portion of the projected high school students in classrooms and labs within the two conjoined buildings the school has plans to build.
Aviation campus
“However, given the projected size and purpose of the new GCS high school, we believe there will need to be a building dedicated to the high school needs,” he said.
Clarke said GTCC plans for the first of those two buildings to be 70,000 square feet and cost $36.4 million. The state of North Carolina and Guilford County are the sources for that funding.
He said they have completed the schematic design phase, are about 50% done with the design development phase, and anticipate completing the construction documents in the first quarter of 2025.
GTCC also wants to get started on the design phase for the second part of the project, which would add another 30,000 square feet. However, Clarke said that’s dependent on the county approving the budget for that phase of the project. The college, he said, is currently working with the county to seek funding for that portion.
School leaders said back in 2022 that they expect to continue to use the college’s T.H. Davis Aviation Center, which is attached to the runway at Piedmont Triad International Airport, for aviation programs. However, the new center would replace the school’s current Aviation II and Aviation III buildings, located off Stagecoach Road near PTI.
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