Last modified: Friday, March 7, 2008 1:06 AM EST Bristol Community College in Attleboro almost ready to open BY GEORGE W. RHODES SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - The transformation of a high tech industrial building into a high tech community college is about 90 percent complete. Equipment and furniture for Bristol Community College have yet to be moved in, but the school is still on target for the previously announced fall opening, said Kathy Garganta, dean of BCC's Attleboro Center. The college has spent about $4.5 million to acquire, gut and reconstruct the first floor of the former Texas Instruments Inc. Building 2 into classrooms, laboratories and offices. Garganta said enrollment is expected to top 1,000 students at the new facility off Pleasant Street in what is now known as the Attleboro Corporate Campus. BCC, which has its main campus in Fall River, has run a full service satellite operation in the city at the old high school on County Street for four years. Enrollment this year was 707 and has risen steadily every year from a starting point of 284. "It's going to be a great place to go to school, and I expect enrollment to jump to 1,000 in September when word gets out about what we have here," Garganta said. "We'll probably keep going up after that. It's just jaw dropping. We finally have a real college in Attleboro." Unlike the County Street operation, parking will not be a problem at the new facility with well over 200 spaces available in front and behind the building. The building is handicapped accessible and school will also have a special office to assist students who are blind, deaf or have some other disability. The new structure has six regular classrooms, a biology lab, a chemistry lab, a health sciences lab, two computer labs, a library, a quiet room for study, a tutoring room, a cafeteria which will start out with vending machines, a 150-seat auditorium and administrative offices. Computer technology is installed throughout. BCC has also worked out an agreement with the Attleboro YMCA to allow students to get a discounted membership to its facility on campus. The YMCA's Texins Activity Center has a pool, exercise equipment, a basketball court, a jogging track and locker rooms. GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.