The Center for Applied Technology building, known around the WSC campus as the “CAT,” is in the final phases of construction.

“Completion of the building is set to be in November,” said Kyle Nelson, interim director of facility services.

The building will open for classes during the spring semester of 2019.

“The students are pretty excited,” said Donald Buryanek, assistant professor of technology and applied science.

The programs housed in the CAT building include industrial technology, teacher education, construction management, drafting and design management, manufacturing management, safety management and some computer science.

There will also be some new programs of study added to the CAT building, including a manufacturing major and minor.

The CAT building is a $15.2 million building, with a 25 square foot welding lab, a 5,000 square foot manufacturing lab as well as a construction and wood working lab. There will also be a 2,500 square foot power and energy lab. Four computer science classrooms will be located on the second floor, along with a mechatronics room.

“It is a good addition to the campus,” Kyle Nelson said. “It will really help advance our industrial technology, and industrial project management programs.”

When the building is open for classes, Benthack will remain, but some of the labs won’t be utilized. There are also plans to move some of the family consumer science activities down to the first floor of the CAT building until enough money is raised to completely renovate Benthack.

In addition, the industrial technology education faculty currently in Benthack will permanently be moved to the CAT building.

One of the main reasons why the new CAT building is connected to Gardener Hall is that the computer science faculty offices are located in Gardener. When the new building is open, those faculty members will have easy access to their new classrooms.

There will be an open house and an opening ceremony when construction of the building is completed, but no official date has been set.