(KIWA and SCR) — Northwest Iowa Community College has awarded a construction contract to turn a former Marcus hotel into a regional center where high school students can earn college credit and explore career fields.
NCC’s Board of Trustees approved a $1,873,240 construction bid from Schelling Construction of Sioux Center on October 19th.
The center will occupy the former Hometown Guesthouse along Highway 3 on the south side of Marcus. NCC says it is expected to welcome students in fall 2027.
NCC President Dr. John Hartog says the Marcus project builds on the college’s existing regional center model.
“We actually have a regional center on our main campus here in Sheldon, where we offer for concurrently enrolled students. So that means high school students who are completing credits that go toward their high school graduation, and also toward a college degree or diploma. We offer welding, auto tech and diesel tech on our main campus. In Sioux Center, we have a regional center there, and we have five career pathways that we offer there in Sioux Center.”
Four Career Pathways
Hartog says NCC is planning four pathways for Marcus: education, engineering design, healthcare, and welding. Welding instruction will use MMCRU’s welding training facility, with part of NCC’s grant funding helping expand that lab’s capacity.
“Part of our grant dollars went to them to help them with some of the air-to-air exchangers, so they could set up more welding trainers, and we could help with that, so that students who are coming not just from MMCRU, but also from South O’Brien and then across our service area boundary into Western Iowa Tech’s area, encompassing also Kingsley-Pierson and River Valley. Those four districts are partnering on this. They can send their welding students to that welding lab.”
Hartog says sharing the welding lab benefits taxpayers because welding is the most expensive of the four pathways to equip.
The college purchased the former hotel for conversion into the regional center. Hartog credits the property’s shareholders with helping make the purchase affordable.
“I do want to have a huge shout-out to the shareholders of that hotel because they worked with us. They were very, very reasonable in the price. And that actually is going to be a blessing, not just for the college, but obviously for taxpayers, for the students who will be able to complete their coursework there.”
Construction and Funding
Hartog says 11 contractors visited the building during an open house, and NCC received seven sealed bids.
“It’s going to be a great winter project because most of that work will be done inside, but we are also doing some work on the outside. I’m sure, when the weather gets better next spring, we’re going to brand that facility so that it’s obvious to everyone who drives by on Highway 3 that that’s an NCC Regional Center.”
NCC applied for a Career Academy Incentive Fund grant in fall 2024 and was awarded $1 million, with the award announced in February 2025. Hartog says the grant helps pay for purchasing and renovating the property.
Because the project costs more than the grant provides, Hartog says NCC is also using Accelerated Career Education, or ACE, infrastructure funding under Iowa Code Chapter 260G. He says those dollars support additional instructional capacity in career and academic pathways tied to workforce research and regional needs.
The Marcus location is near the boundary between NCC’s service area and Western Iowa Tech’s service area. Hartog says NCC would welcome discussions with other school districts interested in joining the partnership.
Hartog also says NCC looks forward to a future regional center in Rock Rapids.
