A retail space in McDonough that has sat empty for more than a decade will be refitted to become part of Southern Crescent Technical College’s local campus.

  State Sen. Brian Strickland announced July 8 that $6.7 million in bond financing from the state’s newly adopted budget for the 2021 fiscal year would be earmarked for acquiring the property on Lakemont Drive at Hwy. 81, and then the design and construction of the Center for Education and Entrepreneurship at the college. The new facility will be located about 200 yards from the entrance to SCTC’s McDonough center.

  The new state budget was signed June 30 by Gov. Brian Kemp.

  “I am excited to see the state continue to invest in higher education in Henry County,” said Strickland. “This new facility will provide more opportunities for students coming out of our high schools and adults returning to the workforce to obtain a quality education here in McDonough and as a place to train employees for businesses that want to locate to Henry County.  Moreover, this investment in this location will replace an abandoned strip mall with a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as the corridor for the current campus for Southern Crescent and the Academy for Advanced Studies.”

  Retiring state Rep. Andy Welch also praised the decision to fund the college’s third building, saying that the start of a McDonough facility for SCTC was one of the reasons he ran for a seat in the House in the first place.

  The McDonough center first opened in 2014 with a single building, and a second building partially funded by county SPLOST revenue opened in 2019. Of the several centers operated by Southern Crescent Technical College, the enrollment of the Henry County location in McDonough is exceeded only by the school’s main campus in Griffin.