Odessa College reached a huge milestone Thursday with the topping out ceremony for the Wood Health Sciences Building now under construction on campus.
Estimated cost of the four-story, 83,000-square-foot building is $45 million, Vice President of Advancement, Business & Governmental Relations Jacqui Gore said. Of that, Gore said $42 million has been committed.
The general contractor is MW Builders and the architect is JSA Architects.
Odessa College employees were joined by administrators, members of the OC board of trustees, and Wood Health Sciences Building donors to write messages on the beam in metallic marker before it was lifted and placed in its final position, a news release said.
President Gregory Williams said he wrote, “This is pretty cool.”
A topping out ceremony is a builders’ tradition held when the last beam is placed atop a structure during the construction process. The practice of “topping out” a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian practice placing a pine tree atop a new building. After the needles had fallen off the tree, the builders knew the wood frame below had cured/dried out so they could enclose the building, the release said.
In OC’s case, it was a small synthetic Christmas tree.
MW Builders Operations Manager Brent Bond said they have dedicated more than 45,000 man hours into the project with no injuries.
“We’re really confined inside of this … fully functioning campus so we couldn’t do that without the help from Odessa College and coordinated efforts. … They’ve helped us coordinate over 150 trucks full of concrete in and out of the facility safely without any injuries, as well as over 600 tons of steel, as we see behind us here. That’s not even taking into (account) all of the daily deliveries that we do. We couldn’t do it without their their help,” Bond said.
He added that they hope to wrap up the project in 2024.
Gore said the building has been in the works for four years. The initial plan was to renovate the existing health sciences building. Then it was decided to construct a new building.
“We spent a year discussing this project with community leaders and potential donors to gauge interest and launch the campaign in July of 2020,” Gore said.
That was when COVID numbers were high and oil prices were low.
“The Wood Family Foundation led the campaign by making the commitment to name this building. … Their commitment was followed by Medical Center Health System, which named the simulation hospital which takes (up) the entire first floor that’s framed out here today; followed by Odessa Development Corporation,” Gore said.
She also thanked the Permian Strategic Partnership, Grow Odessa, MacKenzie Scott, Odessa Regional Medical Center, the Scarborough Foundation, the Abel-Hanger Foundation, JC Ferguson Foundation and many others.
JSA President Cruz Castillo said the first floor will have a 21,000-square-foot simulation hospital. The building also will include patient labs, debriefing rooms, a 450-plus seat meeting room, a large lecture hall, classrooms, faculty offices and support spaces.
Castillo said it is exciting to see the structure completed so the interior infrastructure of the building can be created.
“It’s taken a long time to get to this point, so (it’s) a tremendous milestone for the project,” Castillo said.
Williams said the building is important because it allows OC to continue to raise the bar when it comes to healthcare in the community. He added that this building will enable students to hit the ground running.
In his remarks, Williams said the world was looking at Odessa College.
“There are a number of colleges who talk to us and who want to know how we do what we do. It starts with a great board of trustees who honor and represent this community. It also exemplifies the community spirit that we have in Odessa. We understand that we’re in West Texas. We understand we’re not one of those very large cities along the I-35 corridor. We have to be creative and innovative and we have to support each other. We have to stand together,” Williams said.
“Our college has been able to do that, which has allowed us to try some things that other colleges are afraid to try. Those other colleges can use us as examples and exemplars of what is possible. I think that’s the contribution that we make to higher education nationwide. We get to be the example because we’re willing to be creative, willing to innovate and willing to try that next thing because of the grace provided to us by this community. Then we’re able to share those things and those things that we do, whether it be the drop/rate improvement program, eight-week courses, Drive to Success, those things are being emulated. We’re making higher education better,” Williams said.
He added that the Permian Strategic Partnership has provided financial resources and been a cheerleader for OC to continue to try things.
“They pat us on the back when we have success. They encourage us to be resourceful, so the partnership has been a great partner,” Williams said.
He noted that he wants the community to know that OC builds these projects with the community in mind.
“It’s all about creating an environment, a culture, where humans can do better and have better experiences. That’s what a community is about and Odessa College should be that space. We’re trying to live up to that,” Williams said.
He added the the more buildings that are built, the more students can be taught.
“We have a goal of 10,000 students in the fall semester. When I started here … 17 years ago now, we had over 4,000 students. We’ve doubled that and now we’re heading for 10,000 students because we need more people educated in West Texas. Higher education needs to have a bigger impact, so we will work with ECISD, with UT Permian Basin, with Midland College, with all of the area public schools and high schools so that we can get more and more people into college so that they can live their dreams,” Williams said.
