April 4 marked an announcement for Lake Land College (LLC) about an upcoming change to the Kluthe Center in Effingham, Illinois. The college has purchased the Patterson building, which is a  neighboring building right off the Kluthe Center campus and is going to be the new location for the classes held for LLC students and faculty in the Fall of 2024. The building will be called “the Effingham Technologies Center” according to the President of LLC, Dr. Josh Bullock. “We have been in discussions with Patterson for many months. It really arose from driving by the building. After the pandemic, people started returning to work, so I reached out to see if there was any possibility of a partnership. We had had it on our docket for a long time to renovate Kluthe and to build a new building to house Effingham regional career academy and the Rural development technologies center.” Within those initial discussions, Patterson said they were committed to the Effingham community and “that much of their workforce desired to stay remote,” this started discussions of possibly buying the building. “We purchased the building for 15.5 million, and we had set aside those funds to renovate and build” those new buildings. Patterson will also retain some of the building to keep some of their workforce there. “It was really a win-win-win” for all parties involved. 

Integration of the classes and such will “keep programming at Kluthe until we have everything set to go to move in. The Fall of 2024 is our goal. We want to get the faculty at Kluthe to make sure their needs are met… We’re expecting four to six months for this to take place.” Faculty and staff will be involved every step of the way. There is not quite an idea yet what will be done with the Kluthe center once everything is integrated over. “We fully expect that Lake Land College will retain the building…We are keeping all of our options at this time.” 

“After the sale is finalized, the sale should be finalized by the 27 of April…We are open to offering tours” but after the sale is final and as long as respect is maintained for the staff at Patterson, tours are encouraged. “Patterson really wants to be involved in education and for students I feel that this is going to be a great place to learn.” 

“What I’m really proud of is I think this is going to give us the opportunity to learn and grow. I think that this is going to be a great space for students to engage and connect not just with faculty and staff but with each other.”