NAIT plans expansion into Blatchford

Campus to double in size as school becomes ‘anchor’ for green project

NAIT’s main campus will nearly double in size after buying 13 hectares of Blatchford land from the city, becoming the “anchor tenant” for the green development on the site of the former municipal airport.

The deal announced Wednesday makes way for the school’s longterm plan to consolidate students on its central campus.

Blatchford borders the school to the north and west.

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology was able to make the purchase in part by refinancing a $111-million loan from the province, which will help pay for Blatchford along with other projects.

Officials at the announcement refused to share financial details of the agreement, saying the city doesn’t want to disclose the land

value because it could undermine ongoing negotiations.

“Our pace of growth over the last five years has been very, very significant as we continue to meet those critical labour-market demands for the province,” said NAIT president and CEO Glenn Feltham.

Feltham said the new land will mean the school will eventually be able to close several satellite campuses that are currently spread across the city, consolidating those spaces on the main campus. He said adding student residences is also a priority.

“We would probably need to

build three to four towers in the next 10 to 15 years. We would probably be ultimately talking about a few thousand beds, which itself has a transformative effect because it opens up low-income houses to others within these neighbourhoods,” Feltham said.

The Blatchford acquisition complements the school’s previous purchase of the land immediately north of the main campus where the Westwood transit garage was formerly located.

The Westwood property is currently earmarked for a new skills centre.