Grayson College officially broke ground this week on a new facility that will be the home of generations of Vikings for years to come. The college held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning for its newest dorm hall, which will add additional capacity for student living on campus.
The new dorm building is a part of a nearly $456.5 million bond package of projects that was approved by voters in May 2024. The dorms, along with the nearby health sciences building, will be among the first projects pursued under the bond.
“Our community said we believe in the work you are doing, and we want to help you create a place where students know they belong, where they can learn, where they can earn and grow,” Grayson College President Jeremy McMillen said Wednesday.
The new dorm building will be three stories and have nearly double the capacity for beds than Viking Hall — the college’s former dorm building — which was recently demolished to make way for the improvements on the main campus.
Representatives for WRA Architects said the new dorm building will feature more than 200 privately secured bedrooms with dedicated study space within each dorm. Other features will include a large community kitchen and outdoor community and learning spaces.
McMillen said a recent assessment of Viking Hall, which was built in the 1960s, found the aging facility had growing maintenance and upkeep needs. It was determined that the most economical option was to demolish the building a build a new, larger dorm to replace it. Currently, the new dorm is slated to open in fall of 2026.
The new health sciences building will be constructed on the former site of Viking Hall, closer to the main campus buildings. McMillen estimated that the budget for the new science building dorm is about $200 million, a cost savings compared to initial estimates.
“Initially we were projecting it to be about $250 million for the two (buildings) combined, plus some infrastructure changes that we’ve done as well as a few ancillary projects like the engineering automation lab that we have along with moving our police academy over to the west campus,” he said.
McMillen described the construction of the two buildings as the first phase of improvements across GC facilities. Additional projects will see the phased addition of new buildings on the Van Alstyne campus and a new student connection center. The college is also slated to see the construction of a new maintenance facility, among other improvements, following recent changes at the central plant.
McMillen said the additions on the main campus are necessitated by growth in the community, both in healthcare and the region’s burgeoning semiconductor industry, due in part to the recent opening of new Texas Instruments and GlobalWafers production sites.
McMillen said a goal for the new facilities will be to make the facilities and learning experience as similar to the clinical setting as possible. This will allow for the students to make an easy transition from the classroom to the hospital.
“Our largest group of programs or pathways in terms of graduates is our allied health program,” he said. “We are the regional healthcare hub here in Texoma and so we need to be able to meet the need.”
The college is also poised for growth with development taking place across Grayson County. With that in mind, McMillen said the college needs to be prepared to house incoming students.
“Housing is getting more expensive in our region and we are seeing students want to come and study with us at our college,” he said. “We are becoming more attractive as a college as we get more regional and variety. We want to be able to provide things that students are asking for in today’s world.”
The college is scheduled to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new health sciences center Tuesday afternoon.
