The "Green Roof," located on the top floor of the Delta Midland Center, provides a unique outdoor space for students to study or meet together. (Photo: Michael Piwowarski for the City Paper.)
Delta College’s Midland Center to hold open house
MIDLAND, Mich. — The new Delta College learning center located in downtown Midland will host a community open house Saturday, Aug. 7 from noon to 2 p.m.
The 3-floor, 33,000 square foot facility will offer business, health, science and transfer programs, with an emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
Leanne Govitz, director of marketing and PR, told the City Paper that the open house will be free for the public to come in and explore the facility.
“There will be representatives from some of our partner universities, so if someone’s wanting to learn how to start at Delta and transfer to Northwood, that’s an option, and they could […] find out more about what classes are offered here, and admissions will be here as well to answer any questions anyone may have about taking classes,” Ms. Govitz said.
Programs offered at the new Midland Center will include associate in arts, associate in science, digital forensics, entrepreneur/small business, environmental technology, management, and an advanced certificate in health foundations.
The building contains chemistry and biology labs, as well as training rooms, flex lab, study areas, and a multi-purpose meeting room, which can be used for various events such as board meetings or student engagement.
Kristy Nelson, director of downtown centers, told the City Paper that spaces such as the multi-purpose room and flex lab provide opportunity for Delta to partner with organizations to hold community events.
“Typically, anyone that wants to use the facility would work with our business services to make sure that it [is] tied somehow to the community or to education,” Ms. Nelson said. “Definitely, we want community to be involved in the building. We want to participate in community stuff also.”
Delta has already collaborated with Dow and the University of Michigan to host the Dow Innovation Teacher Fellowship (DITF) at the Midland Center. DITF is an initiative aiming to prepare area K-12 teachers to educate their students on innovation and sustainability.
Construction of the new building began in fall 2019, with an anticipated winter 2021 opening. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the shutdown of all Delta campuses, progress was slowed down.
Ms. Nelson told the City Paper that the general public hasn’t been able to see the progress of the Midland Center’s development up close as a result of the pandemic. The building was nearly complete when it opened to the public June 21.
“Two years ago, when we opened downtown Saginaw, I feel like people got to really monitor the progress as we went along. We were able to get in the building and do tours midway through. So I think that’s the part that was really different about this building,” Ms. Nelson said.
Ms. Govitz told the City Paper that enrollment at the Midland Center is currently at 300 students, and that Delta expects to reach a goal of 500 down the road.
With at least 300 students enrolled at the new downtown facility, the Midland Center adds to the long-standing parking issue for the downtown area. A parking study released in March 2020 shows that only 30% of the city’s 4,959 downtown parking spots are public. The site itself has a small parking lot with 31 spaces.
Ms. Govitz clarified that the first floor of the Larkin Street parking garage provides free parking for Delta students.
The total construction cost was $13 million, $9 million of which coming from donors. The building site was donated to Delta by Dow and Chemical (now Huntington) Bank.
Located at 419 East Ellsworth St, the Midland Center is replacing Delta’s former satellite campus on Wheeler Street, which has been retired due to aging infrastructure.
Unlike the former Ricker Center in Saginaw, which was leased out, Delta College owns the old Wheeler Street campus. Ms. Govitz told the City Paper that Delta is looking into a few options for the facility, including the possibility of selling it in the next few months.
The downtown Midland Center is currently open for summer hours Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., for assistance with student registration and other services. Registration for fall classes is open, with the semester starting August 28.
Michael Piwowarski covers education, including higher ed and Midland Public Schools, for the City Paper.