Kenai Peninsula College purchased Young’s Downtown Inn and Restaurant in Homer last Friday, marking an important step forward for the school's long term goals.
The college purchased the property—which is next to the Kachemak Bay Campus—at an undisclosed price through its own funding. Kachemak Bay Campus director Reid Brewer said the purchase was a long time coming.
“The potential for the space was recognized a long time ago, and so when we start doing things like master planning, and start thinking about building capacity, this was a very natural potential for that,” he said
The college’s current master plan is a document laying out long term goals for the University of Alaska Anchorage and its associated colleges. It details numerous objectives for the campus. Kenai Peninsula College director Cheryl Siemers said that the focus for the new property has been narrowed down to four areas, which are housing, a new lecture hall, a center for career and technical education and additional outdoor space.
“There's a number of different objectives and seeing which one might best fit within that space is something that we'll be taking in collaboration with the Kachemak Bay Campus, the Kenai River Campus and also in discussions with the University of Alaska Anchorage and our chancellor,” she said.
Brewer also said they’ve worked with local partners to identify areas that best serve the community’s needs, and will continue to do so with the development of the new property.
“It is a stepwise process that we're going to go through," he said, "we're not going to start building immediately, but we're really excited about the potential to figure out how we can serve the community best.”
The college’s current plan is to develop the new property, and likely will not acquire more buildings in the near future.
