Tipton Completes Sinclair Warren County Campus On Schedule
August 27, 2007 - In December of 2006, Sinclair began negotiations with Tipton to build their new Warren County Campus. Tipton had purchased 4.75 acres the previous year with a plan to build a 60,000 SF building on the site. Sinclair had already looked at 72 different sites and was ready to delay construction until 2008 if they couldn’t settle on a site for the new campus.
During the initial discussions, the timing of completion was the main topic. If the building couldn’t be completed in time for autumn classes in September of 2007, then there was no reason to start construction. After meeting with the City of Mason, Warren County and the subcontractors for the work, Tipton agreed to a completion date of August 15th. This would be the date that Sinclair would begin moving equipment and personnel to be ready for Fall Quarter. The building will be approximately 17,645 Square Feet and house 10 classrooms.
At the ground-breaking ceremony on February 19th, there were still twelve inches of snow on the ground, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of those in attendance. Over one hundred people attended the ground-breaking despite the weather conditions and all eyes were now on Tipton to perform and complete the building in time for the Fall Quarter. Jim Maloney, Vice President of Tipton Construction, Inc. and Tom Walters, the site superintendent would have their work cut out for them.
After the disastrous snow and low temperatures in February, the weather broke for the better. The very day of the ground-breaking, the temperature was fifteen degrees in the morning, but reached fifty by the afternoon. This proved to be a good omen for the work ahead.
By April, the building was weathered in enough to allow the finish work on the inside to proceed. About the same time, Sinclair opened their orientation office at Tipton’s “Fountains Office Park”. Their stated goal was to sign up 500 students. This would allow the new campus to get the start that it needed. Sinclair began an aggressive marketing campaign with local school systems, guidance counselors and local municipalities. This campaign was aimed at providing the schools with information to pass to their students when they were making their decision for life after high school.
The second part of this marketing effort involved signing a reciprocity agreement with the University of Cincinnati. This is something that had been discussed previously, but the timing was now right. There was a ceremony at the City of Mason building on April 27th in which the agreement was unveiled. This would allow Sinclair students to transfer into UC more easily after completing initial classes at Sinclair.
Sinclair has moved their furniture and administrative staff into the new building and is on schedule to start classes on September 5th. If everything goes well, the hope is to expand the current building to allow for more classrooms and students.
For more information, please contact Eric Tipton at the phone number or e-mail listed at the beginning of this release.