NORFOLK — Tidewater Community College will receive $500,000 over the next five years from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to help build the TCC Perry Center for Visual & Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management in Norfolk’s NEON District, officials said in a news release.
TCC was one of seven recipients of grants from the Foundation, which is focused on environmental stewardship and vibrant places in awarding funds, officials said.
“We’re appreciative of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation’s generosity, which shows its confidence in what promises to be a transformative facility for the city of Norfolk,” said TCC President Gregory T. DeCinque.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander unveiled plans to build the 47,000-square-foot facility during his state of the city address in March 2018.
Plans call for it to energize the NEON District and nearby St. Paul’s area by:
- Expanding TCC’s one-of-a-kind visual arts education program;
- training the next generation of chefs with an expansion of TCC’s comprehensive culinary arts program;
- creating opportunities for collaboration between culinary and visual arts programs;
- making a test kitchen available to food entrepreneurs;
- housing an expanded program in hospitality and restaurant management; and
- providing dual-enrollment opportunities for Norfolk high school students and workforce education to residents.
The project will be funded by some TCC general funds but mostly by private donations raised through Go Further! TCC’s Campaign for a Competitive Workforce.
The city’s Patricia and Douglas Perry are the lead donors in the initiative, officials said.
“We are hoping to begin construction in early 2020 with an opening date of Fall Semester 2021,” said Matthew Baumgarten, executive director of TCC’s Real Estate Foundation.
The city is donating the site of the former Greyhound bus station at the corner of Brambleton and Monticello avenues to the TCC Real Estate Foundation to make way for the new project.
For more information about donating to TCC’s Campaign for a Competitive Workforce, contact the college’s Educational Foundation at 757-822-1080 or visit advancement.tcc.edu.
RELATED STORIES: