Austin Community College to open Ford Building campus in Lockhart, offering short workforce certificates by January 2026

Austin Community College officials told the Lockhart City Council that the district acquired the former Ford building in Lockhart and expects to begin offering short-term workforce certificate programs there no later than January 2026.

ACC vice chancellor Chris Cervini said the acquisition of the Ford Building, completed about a month after the November 2024 annexation, “will allow us to offer courses in a facility that we control about a year before our original plan had us doing it.” He said that accelerating the timeline avoids a greenfield build and speeds local access to ACC instruction.

Associate Vice Chancellor Aziz Husani and Vice Chancellor of Instruction Galen Scott joined Cervini for the presentation. Husani said feasibility and accessibility reviews found the building can meet life-safety and ADA requirements and that, based on square footage and ACC rules, “we can accommodate up to a 150 people within the square footage of that building.” He described an adjacent parking lot with 47 spaces and additional on-site ADA parking, and said staff expect to add more parking if concurrent class scheduling requires it.

Scott outlined programs ACC plans to offer in the Ford Building, starting with general education courses currently held at Lockhart High School evenings and Saturdays and expanding to short-term workforce certificates. Proposed offerings include fundamentals of welding (160 clock hours), automotive technology (144 clock hours), HVAC and plumbing certificate programs, and community-focused classes such as QuickBooks and digital literacy. Scott said some community programs could be noncredit “micro-credential” workshops, while others might translate to college credit depending on demand.

Council members and ACC staff discussed operations and next steps. Cervini said some centralized district services (for example HVAC and electrical technicians) will respond as needed across campuses. Husani listed small facility projects already planned — upgraded electrical service, signage, IT and badge readers, lighting and striping for the parking lot, and street-edge repairs such as curbs and crosswalk markings — and said ACC will obtain required city permits for those improvements.

City officials offered to help ACC promote the Lockhart presence and to coordinate a local kickoff event for the spring semester. Cervini and colleagues said they will continue coordinating with Lockhart Independent School District on pathways and use of existing CTE spaces at night, and that acquisition of the Ford Building complements other ACC investments in the southern part of its district.

ACC left the meeting to inspect landscaping at the building after the presentation; council members said they would share staff contact information and assist with outreach and promotional events.