MUSKEGON, MI - After a year of construction to turn an old newspaper building into an institution for high-tech manufacturing education, Muskegon Community College is poised to open its "Downtown Center."

A couple hundred students will begin attending applied technology classes Aug. 28 at the college's satellite location on Clay Avenue in downtown Muskegon.

On any given day for the past year, as many as 100 contractors were working inside the former Muskegon Chronicle building at the corner of Third Street. The results of their work are three floors of advanced learning labs and classrooms featuring $3.7 million worth of the most up-to-date design and manufacturing equipment available.

The modern equipment - paid with a Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant --means programs moving from MCC's main campus are evolving and expanding, said Dan Rinsema-Sybenga, dean of academic affairs for the college.

"A lot of these programs are moving in new directions based on the new capabilities we have," Rinsema-Sybenga said.

The start of the fall semester will mark a partial opening of the $14.8 million Downtown Center. It will fully open with all programs in place in January.

Architects and contractors transformed the 89-year-old newspaper office building and press room into a training center for advanced manufacturing employees for high-demand jobs where median wages start at $16.65 (for welders) and top out at $25.68 per hour (for CAD positions).

The historic walnut-paneled lobby has been preserved, with more of the ornately carved wood exposed through the removal of dated drop-down ceilings. The lobby will be known as the student center and, similar to the man campus's "collegiate hall," the space will be used as a student lounge and study area as well as a community lecture and meeting hall for up to 120 people.

The rest of the facility is unrecognizable as the former newspaper building, including the newer printing press addition to which a second floor has been added.

The main entrance has moved to 388 W. Clay Ave. directly across from Hackley Park. Just inside the entrance is the Lakeshore Fab Lab, which will open in January to students as well as corporations and individuals through memberships.

The fab lab, which will be accessible around the clock, will feature equipment for entrepreneurs and research and development employees to design and build prototypes. The lab will feature CAD computers, high-end 3-D printers, production machining, laser etching and robotics as well as connection to the Global Fab Lab network for ideas and help worldwide.

The lab encompasses old Chronicle space as well as some on the main floor of the former Masonic Temple next door to the old newspaper building. Remaining space on the first floor of the old temple, now called the Rooks Sarnicola Entrepreneurial Institute, will be occupied by a credit union and Barnes and Noble book store that will open in January. The second floor of the institute will remain undeveloped for now, Rinsema-Sybenga said.

Applied technology programs opening this fall at the Downtown Center are:

CAD (or computer-aided design). Modern classrooms include state-of-the-art 3-D printer work stations.

Engineering. The college offers associate degrees in engineering and manufacturing engineering technology. Through a partnership with Western Michigan University, students can take three years of classes at MCC and then a year at WMU for degrees in manufacturing engineering, product engineering or engineering management. Offices are in the Downtown Center for advisers representing WMU and Ferris State University, with which MCC also has an engineering partnership.

Materials. The program located in the basement of the old newspaper plant includes a modern foundry with sand conveyer system and a materials testing lab, which has numerous tensile and hardness testers and a high-end spectrometer. Students could go on to work in foundries or as metallurgists, a field expected to grow by 11 percent over the next five years.

Welding. The huge first-floor welding lab includes 16 welding booths and robotic welders allowing for an expansion of the program into welding automation and steel fabrication. Welding is another high-demand field expected to grow by 14 percent of the next five years.

In addition to the fab lab, programs opening in January will be Experiential Learning, electronics/automation (robotics) and machining.

The college's "Experiential Learning" program offers classes and public programs in history, political science and labor studies. The interactive first-floor classroom will include space for lectures and group research. The location in downtown provides students easy access to historic sites, including Hackley Public Library and its wealth of research materials.

Electronics/automation will include a lab featuring six robots and computers to program them and a separate electricity lab. Demand for robotic programmers is expected to increase 9 percent through 2022.

Machining learning equipment will include a 5-axis CNC mill, CNC turning centers and vertical machining centers. Demand for CNC programmers is expected to climb a whopping 44 percent through 2022 with a median hourly wage of $22.32.