Alpena Community College President Don MacMaster

ALPENA — The Alpena Community College board of trustees on Tuesday approved a general construction contractor for a new and much-needed student housing unit.

The board called a special meeting on Tuesday to approve the bid from Meridian Contracting Services for construction general contractor services for the new student housing project of an amount not to exceed $4,052,000.

The proposed project will add one non-contiguous building to the existing College Park apartments site. The addition would provide a minimum of 32 more beds and include two ADA-accessible units, as well as ample parking. The total cost of the project is not to exceed $4.7 million with all design and other incurred costs included. ACC intends to begin construction this year, with the goal of having the new housing units available to students in the Fall semester of 2026.

Last August, the ACC Board of Trustees approved Progressive AE to provide architectural and engineering services for the project. Since that time, college officials have been working closely with Progressive AE to prepare final designs for the new building and solicit bids for a construction general contractor.

On May 23, ACC began advertising for bids for the student housing expansion project. ACC asked potential vendors to include six alternates, five for cost-saving deductions if the base bid exceeded the budgeted amount for construction, and the sixth to add hookups for future portable generators. While the entirety of the student housing project is expected to be slightly under $4.7 million, the cost allowance for construction is budgeted at $4,084,691. As of the deadline on June 26, one bid, from Meridian Contracting Services (MCS), was received. Meridian representative Trent Sherman attended the bid opening meeting with college officials and Patrick Kanary from Progressive AE, according to the meeting agenda.

MCS provided ACC with a bid of $4,090,000, slightly higher than the cost allowance budgeted by ACC. Along with their base bid, MCS included costs for the six alternates. Working through the post-bid interview process, MCS also offered a recommended voluntary alternate for a cost-saving deduction which will bring the construction cost down to $4,052,000.

“We’re delighted that this resolution passed,” ACC President Don MacMaster said in a statement on Tuesday. “It’s been a long road. We know we need more student housing, and that will help enrollment. We’re shooting for completion in August of 2026.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS

~ A recent review of the machine tool lab at ACC identified the need for a cobot — a

collaborative robot designed to work alongside humans in a shared workspace. This new

equipment would feature the latest technology for ACC students and integrate with other

equipment already featured in the machine tool lab. The Alpena Community College Board of Trustees voted to authorize appropriate college officials to purchase one Haas COBOT PKG-10KG from Gerotech, Inc., of Flatrock, Michigan, for a cost not to exceed $53,635.75. Funding for this purchase will come from the technology improvement fund and the ACC Foundation.

~ The ACC board of trustees approved the use of $40,000 from the ACC Foundation to provide additional tuition waivers support for ACC athletics in Fiscal Year 2026. The board of trustees approved a change to Policy 5011 at their June 19 regular meeting to increase the number of tuition waivers to 1,000 contact hours to be spread between the sports teams. During the process of adding three new sports teams, college officials discussed ways ACC could expand and improve its athletic recruiting activities. One proposed solution was to increase the number of tuition waivers beyond the contact hours limit in Policy 5011 without adding additional expense to the college. A proposal to the Alpena Community College Foundation was created asking the Foundation to fund $40,000 in Fiscal Year 2026 to add an additional 200 contact hours of athletics tuition waivers support for the three new sports teams.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.