STC approves selling land to UTPA for new facility

McALLEN -- The area's two largest public higher education institutions are working on a real estate deal that officials say would expand learning opportunities in Starr County.

The South Texas College Board of Trustees on Thursday approved selling 4 1/2 acres next to the college's Starr County campus to the University of Texas-Pan American. UTPA intends to build a facility on the site for its Upper Level Center, which offers upper-level courses in several areas of study.

The deal still requires approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, but the University of Texas Board of Regents approved the plan in the fall last year, said James Langabeer, UTPA's vice president for business affairs.

UTPA is supposed to pay $441,000 for the land and spend $7.5 million in total for the project, Langabeer said.

The institutions have been working on the deal for several years as they sought approval from the state and from their respective boards to move forward with the plans, he said.

For the past several years, Starr County residents who received associate degrees from STC have been able to continue their education at UTPA's Upper Level Center, 3602 Turtle Drive, in the 755 Country Estates subdivision north of Rio Grande City. Classes are currently housed in a portable building off Farm-to-Market Road 755 there.

Most of the junior- and senior-level classes are geared toward those majoring in education and criminal justice, because there has been a need in the community for people in those professions, said Ana Maria Rodriguez, senior vice provost for undergraduate studies at UTPA.

The new building will allow the university to expand its undergraduate course offerings and perhaps offer graduate courses to students in the future, Rodriguez said.

UTPA hopes to open the 20,000-square-foot facility in fall 2010.

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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.