“Win-git” or “win-gate”, say it how you will, but Wingate University is coming to town. The University announced in August they would like to open a Western North Carolina campus in Henderson County and with support from the Henderson County Board of Commissioners and Hendersonville City Council, the plan is coming together. Working alongside the Partnership, Wingate narrowed its search to downtown Hendersonville locations, and announced the ‘Hendersonville Campus’ on December 20th. Wingate will occupy the two-story, 11,056 sf building located at 220 5th Avenue.
After Wingate announced their desire to come to Henderson County, HCPED worked closely with the university to pinpoint minimum criteria for their location. The specified criteria included ideal parking, ample square-footage for growth, proximity to amenities and hospitals, minimal upfit requirements, and accessible transportation routes. Once the search parameters were established, an inventory was pulled together to identify and present potential sites. Feedback from property owners, commercial real estate agents and municipalities further identified existing buildings.
Wingate reviewed the gathered information and selected a handful of locations to tour. The university toured select locations in September, narrowing the search to two Hendersonville locations and finally selecting the 5th Avenue campus.
Building renovations will begin in January 2011. “Most of the facility meets our needs but it will require some technological improvement for distance education and a new laboratory for pharmacy,” said Wingate’s Vice President for Business and CFO Chuck Taylor. “We’re pleased to find such an appropriate location for our School of Pharmacy and other programs in the heart of downtown Hendersonville,” said Taylor.
The building will house a Pharmacy School, Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Physician Assistant Studies, pending approvals by their respective accrediting agencies. The expansion of the pharmacy school will meet the demand of the current program and work closely with Pardee Hospital and Park Ridge Health. The MBA program will offer a unique one-semester course to cover necessary prerequisite requirements for interested student prospects.