The Concordia University at Austin Board of Regents has begun what it expects to be a “multi-year process” of selling the Texas school’s current property and purchasing a new one that has more room for expansion.
University President Thomas E. Cedel said a commercial appraisal of the 23-acre campus was expected to be completed as this Reporter was going to press in late July, and the school likely would choose a commercial real-estate company this month to help market the property nationwide.
School adminstrators already have fielded “a number of inquiries about purchasing the campus,” Cedel said, and the school is working with the Synod’s Board of University Education and banking partners to move the relocation process forward.
“Along the way we are getting ready for the beginning of our fall classes,” Cedel said. Early registrations indicate what may be “a record enrollment,” he said, so the school is preparing additional dorm space for students.
A site selection committee is paring down a list of more than 25 possible relocation sites for consideration by the board of regents at its August meeting. Cedel said he expects the board to choose the “top two to five” sites this month and make its final selection by year’s end.
The board voted in May to move the university because it believes “the capacity of the current campus in areas such as parking, available classrooms, and student housing will seriously constrain continued growth in student enrollment.”
Enrollment at Concordia University at Austin has nearly tripled since the school became a four-year institution in 1979. Last fall’s enrollment was 1,162.
Posted July 28, 2005
