Southwest Washington College Plans Technology Training Center

LONGVIEW, WA-Lower Columbia College is trying to drum up interest for a $5 million, 25,000-square-foot technology training center to educate a new generation of workers and attract new businesses. The college has neither the land nor the funding to make it happen, but has acknowledged being approached by regional and national employers — which it is not yet naming — about a joint venture that could also involve the city.

Longview City Manager Ed Ivey has said it is a good idea because talks with employers who consider locating in the city’s Mint Farm Industrial Park always seem to come down to workforce issues. LCC president Jim McLaughlin has said such a facility would send a strong message that Longview cares about its economic future.

Neither Ivey nor McLaughlin was immediately available for comment Thursday morning. The training center would reportedly include classrooms, computer labs and a large gathering room for business functions. The goal is to open the facility by 2005.