Northeast Lakeview College, the youngest college under the Alamo Colleges District umbrella, is preparing to once again expand its footprint to meet the growing demand in the New Braunfels area. 

Three years after leasing a shared space at the Central Texas Technology Center in New Braunfels, the college began the process of doubling its capacity in the region by purchasing a 58,000-square-foot building with about 10.7 acres of space.

The current New Braunfels facility has about half of the teaching space compared to the new building, which is now slated to be completed by the Spring of 2027, said Northeast Lakeview President Veronica Garcia. 

“We thought we were going to be there for five years. But what happened is that started out with only 125 students and the following year, we doubled that,” Garcia said about the current facility. “And so what we quickly realized is that we were outgrowing the space faster than what we were anticipating.”

Today the number of students attending the New Braunfels center account for nearly 40% of the college’s overall enrollment, which this fall reached about 10,600 students. 

A preliminary floor map shows Northeast Lakeview’s plans for the former PNC Bank building located at 2049 Sundance Pkwy in New Braunfels. Credit: Courtesy / Northeast Lakeview College

The purchase of the new facility — which was originally built to house a headquarters for PNC bank but was left unused — was announced this spring and this fall the college is starting the bidding process to find a contractor to retrofit the space. 

Alamo Colleges District purchased the existing building for $13.6 million as well as an adjacent 4.2 acres for $2 million. Remodeling of the building is estimated to cost $8 million, including lab equipment. The city of New Braunfels contributed $5 million toward the project. 

“There’s a tremendous value in this partnership to the New Braunfels and Seguin communities and alignment to the education and workforce needs,” Alamo Colleges Chancellor Mike Flores said in an announcement of the purchase in January. “Students who live in the area will continue to have the opportunity to study high-demand, high-wage career paths under the Alamo Colleges umbrella close to home.”

Northeast Lakeview College was established in 2007 aiming to serve residents of northeast San Antonio, as well as those living in Comal and Guadalupe Counties. The college traces its roots to a teaching center that served this region as an extension of St. Philip’s College since 1996. 

About three years ago the college leased the current New Braunfels center, which is shared with Texas State Technical College. The college currently operates in less than 20,000 square feet of space, Garcia said.

Early plans for the new facility involved mostly classroom space, but these have evolved into a mix of classroom and lab space for core courses such as chemistry and biology, as well as programs like electrical engineering, nursing and more. 

Northeast Lakeview’s new New Braunfels location is slated to open in 2027. Credit: Courtesy / Northeast Lakeview College

While these changes pushed their expected completion date by one full semester, Garcia said this investment will allow them to increase the number of courses offered at this location and add new ones. The college expects to add a full certified nursing assistant program, electrical engineering and cyber defense, which are taught in tandem with the main campus.  

“I expect that the cyber program will grow. I expect that the whole electrical program will grow, engineering will grow, and then part of the healthcare programs are going to grow,” Garcia said. “The question is going to be; how can we keep up with that growth?”