The site of the old Ford City Junior-Senior High School is being redeveloped as the home of a new Butler County Community College campus in a $5 million project.

Increasing enrollment at a BC3 site that opened four years ago in nearby Manor Township is the driving force for the new, 25,000-square-foot facility on Fourth Avenue.

Enrollments have increased 426% at the Manor Township location — Lenape Technical School’s NexTier Adult Learning Center — over the past four years, according to BC3 officials.

Consequently, BC3 has outgrown the Manor Township site, which will close when the Ford City site opens in fall 2021.

“It’s exciting that we can bring the strength of Butler County Community College into Ford City in an expanded capacity to serve the students of Armstrong County,” Butler County Community College President Nick Neupauer said in a statement.

The Ford City site adds to the college’s other locations in Butler, Jefferson, Lawrence and Mercer counties.

Like the Manor Township site it will replace, the Ford City location will be known as “BC3 @ Armstrong.”

The Ford City BC3 will lease the building from the Nonprofit Development Corp., a Butler-based nonprofit that works with the college. NDC is in the process of closing on the almost 2.7-acre parcel with the Armstrong County Industrial Development Council, according to BC3.

The Ford City Junior-Senior High School building was razed last year.

The site also will be used by an as-yet unannounced tenant; the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources; and the Center for Community Resources, which helps people find resources for mental health, intellectual disabilities, substance abuse and other human services.

The new college site is expected to spur economic growth in Ford City, which has been hit hard over the decades with the exodus of large employers such as PPG Industries, Eljer Plumbingware and others.

The heart of Ford City is located in the middle of an educational triangle with points no more than a mile apart that include the future BC3 Ford City location, Armstrong Junior-Senior High School in Manor Township and Lenape Technical School, also in Manor, according to state Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Ford City.

“We think in that little triangle is where we can create tomorrow’s jobs,” said Pyle, a Ford City resident and former mayor who taught at Ford City High.

“This is an opportunity for our young people to gain the skills they need to live and work here,” Pyle said. “I’m talking about good paying, family-sustaining jobs in the trades, health care and other areas.”

Pyle and state Sen. Joe Pittman have made budgetary requests to help pay for the extra utilities and other work needed at the future school site.

The new BC3 @ Armstrong facility will have classrooms, learning spaces, computer rooms and a science and chemistry lab.

The new facility will expand the number of courses to nearly 40, according to BC3 officials.

The Manor Township site currently offers associate degrees in business administration, general studies and psychology as well as courses for other areas of study. Next fall the school plans to add a social work associate’s degree.

When the new facility opens 2021, additional programs will be offered, including criminology and secondary education-social sciences.

Armstrong School District Superintendent Chris DeVivo said that the new Ford City college location would benefit district students. Currently, BC3 already offers some college-level courses in the district.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)