Healthy Campus under construction
Healthy Campus under construction
The $46 million KVCC Bronson Healthy Living Campus is attracting funders at the same time construction is going up and staff has been hired.
In recent weeks KVCC has announced John Korycki, the executive chef at Zazios Italian restaurant in downtown Kalamazoo, has been hired as the Director for Culinary Education, and Rachel Chadderdon Bair, currently a Program Director at the Fair Food Network in Ann Arbor, has been brought on as Director for Sustainable and Innovative Food Systems at the new campus.
The Healthy Living Campus is being developed on 13.3 acres of land donated by Bronson Healthcare. The property, near Bronson Methodist Hospital, includes 8.4 acres along Crosstown Parkway east of the City of Kalamazoo’s Crosstown Center, 3.6 acres between Walnut and Dutton Streets, and 1.3 acres north of Crosstown Parkway and south of Dutton Street.
Three facilities are planned: One for food production and distribution, a second for nursing, allied health and culinary programs, and the third for a new psychiatric clinic for KCMHSAS.
The culinary facilities will be housed in a new, state-of-the-art 75,000-square foot building – part of a growing health-corridor in the community.
Plans include large production kitchens, a bakery, a teaching restaurant and cafe, technology-rich classroom spaces, a community kitchen, and a teaching brewery. Students completing degrees in culinary arts will also make extensive use of the new urban food production and distribution facility and spend time exploring career options and gaining work experience with employers in the community.
"Working with our partners and multiple community groups, our goal will be to impact the health of our communities by providing the next generation of culinary and agriculture leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to work at the intersection of health, environmental, and social concerns," Kalamazoo Valley President Marilyn Schlack said when the project was announced in 2013.
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