Apr. 12—RANDOLPH COUNTY — Randolph County will spend $8.5 million on three new Randolph Community College projects, including at its Archdale campus, aimed at addressing expected workforce needs driven by coming industrial development.

RCC President and CEO Shah Ardalan recently presented the plans to the Randolph County Board of Commissioners, which voted unanimously in favor of the projects.

"Thirty minutes from here will be the investment of $30 billion by companies that are coming to the area," Ardalan said. "The college must be ready to serve. ... We're developing our strategic plan for 2024-2030 in close collaboration with our county, state and community partners."

The largest of the three is renovation and retrofitting of a building on the main campus to establish the Applied Industrial Artificial Intelligence Center of North Carolina, which will concentrate on advanced manufacturing, building trades and agriculture. The county will spend just under $5.9 million on the project, which Ardalan said would take about 18 months.

Updates and expansion of the Emergency Services Training Center, which serves firefighters, law enforcement and other emergency personnel across the state, will cost about $1.7 million.

The third project will make repairs and renovations to better meet the needs of students on the main campus and at the RCC Archdale Center, totaling $901,000.

Ardalan also thanked the commissioners for their recent approval of RCC's funding request for nearly $1.5 million to buy 22 acres in the Liberty area to develop a center aimed at addressing the escalating educational needs arising from the rapid expansion of manufacturing businesses in the region, including Toyota's new battery plant near Liberty and the Wolfspeed semiconductor plant near Siler City.