Fort Scott Community College’s Greyhound Lodge, the former Red Ram Motel on North National Avenue, is getting further renovation.
The school purchased the motel in 2018, at a cost of $270,000, for more off-campus housing.
“The Lodge is needing repairs, especially to the restrooms and the area that houses the kitchen, laundry, and student gathering area,” FSCC President Alysia Johnston said. “We also need to replace the doors to the rooms.”
“Elite Construction Services was awarded the bid as the lone bidder and will repair the bathrooms and replace the doors,” Tom Havron, vice president of student affairs at the college, said.
The bid was for $43,310, according to the April 18 minutes of the board meeting.
At this off-campus housing, a total of 44 students, both males and females, can live there.
Greyhound Lodge is on the north side of town, near the intersection of Hwy. 54 and Hwy. 69. The FSCC main campus is on the south side of town, at 2108 S. Horton.
To view a prior fortscott.biz story: Students Move In Greyhound Lodge by Briana Blandamer
In addition to the computer and common rooms, there is a laundry space and kitchen area.
The lodge is comprised of one bedroom apartments with an attached bathroom.
Other Student Housing
In addition to the dorms on the campus, the college has 352 beds available for student housing, Havron said.
Thirty FSCC students have been housed in the former Mercy Hospital west side, just down the street from the college, since 2020.
To view the story on the student housing at Mercy:
FSCC: Classes Started August 10 With Some Big Changes
“Students moved out of the Mercy building at the beginning of the spring semester, as soon as the Garrison Hall apartments were ready to occupy,” Havron said. “We will not plan to house students out at the building moving forward. Our lease with Mercy was a month-to-month agreement which ended March 31, 2022.”
Garrison Hall is located at 18th and Horton Street, just across from the college campus.
To view the prior story on Garrison Hall:
FSCC New Housing: Garrison Hall
“The Garrison Apartments are designated as a female-only residence living,” Havron said.
The college administration is making provisions of extra rooms for a COVID 19 surge, should there be one, as they have in the past during the pandemic.
“With the purchase of Garrison with federal monies, we still plan to hold space for quarantine/isolation for students in FSCC housing,” Havron said. “The main reason we purchased Garrison was to increase our space for housing to allow for quarantine/isolation rooms.”