Warren has been selected as the headquarters site for the Rural Regional College of Northern Pennsylvania.

And if the tentative plans come to fruition, a vacant school building will no longer be vacant.

Established by act of the state legislature in 2014, the RRC has been tasked with forming a community college to serve Cameron, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, McKean, Potter, Venango and Warren counties.

While courses will be offered throughout that region, the headquarters is going to be here.

Duane Vicini, Educational Consortium of the Upper Allegheny President and RRC Project Executive, said that the RRC board accepted the site selection committee’s recommendation at a Tuesday meeting.

“The Warren group had proposed the South Street School location,” Vicini said, noting that renovations will be needed before the RRC will be able to move in.

Until then, Vicini said that Northwest Bank has agreed to a short-term rental agreement to allow the administrative site to be housed at the Jefferson House in downtown Warren.

He added that when the South Street facility is ready, both the RRC and the Warren-Forest Higher Education Council will be located there.

Reaction from local officials was unreservedly positive.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the decision of the RRC board,” Jim Decker, President and CEO of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry said. “This is significant news for Warren County. We are looking forward to a long, fruitful relationship. We’ve got a lot of partners to thank for coming together.”

He credited the Hi-Ed Council for their willingness in “making a significant commitment to expanding their operations (and location); the Community Foundation of Warren County for changing scholarship guidelines to allow for part-time non-traditional students and “committing to help us with renovations we’re going to need to do with South Street School” as well as the Warren County School District who “was directly engaged in our presentation to the site committee. That synergy between the RRC and school district and Hi-Ed is really what put Warren in the best position.”

While he said there is “a lot of work to do in terms of finalizing agreements,” Decker said that he “couldn’t be happier. we appreciate the support that the RRC board gave to Warren.”

“I’m very excited about this prospect,” Commissioner Jeff Eggleston added. “It’s a huge win for the county. It’s going to be a great first step to expand the educational opportunities both in the county and in the region.”

“The county government is very committed to making this work long term and getting them here and getting them to stay here,” Eggleston said. “(It was) really great to see the community come together.”