WCTC expanding to accommodate growing manufacturing programs

Waukesha County Technical College is planning a 10,300-square-foot expansion to accommodate the school’s growing demand for manufacturing programs.

The project will be financed with a $2 million donation last year from former Signicast Corp. president and owner Walter “Terry” Lutz to the WCTC Foundation. WCTC renamed its Integrated Manufacturing Center after Lutz last year.

The two-story addition will be onto the southwest side of the existing I Building, 800 Main St.

The 24,000-square-foot center was opened in the spring of 2016 after a two-year fundraising effort by the WCTC Foundation.

The addition will provide four additional large classrooms for manufacturing, automated systems technology (AST), industrial maintenance technician (IMT) and maintenance/millwright apprenticeship programs.

The first floor addition will be 6,910 square feet. The second floor will be 3,394 square feet, according to plans submitted to the city of Pewaukee.

Combined, these programs have grown to more than 200 students, according to WCTC’s presentation last month to the Wisconsin Technical College System board.

WCTC awarded 2,136 associates of applied science and technical diplomas in 2016-17. Of those, 97 percent of graduates work in Wisconsin and 88 percent work in the Milwaukee and Waukesha metropolitan areas.

The Village of Pewaukee plan commission will consider the expansion plans Thursday.