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During the 1986 tax-and-bond election, ACC representatives had promised voters in Leander that in return for their support the College would return the favor by build a new, full-service campus to serve their fast-growing area. For some time, northern Travis and southern Williamson counties ACC had been expanding its presence in the Leander/Cedar Park neighborhoods.

Also involved in ACC’s plans to help Williamson County absorb its surging secondary and post-secondary enrollments were lease agreements giving ACC space in available office and classroom space for. Some of the space was in a building located on Rutherford Lane near Cameron Road in Northeast Austin. ACC leased more space in a building called “The Oaks Center,” located on Hwy 620 in northwest Travis County. Both of these were stop-gap measures intended to deal with present demands for classroom and laboratory space; however, plans were underway to live up to its part of the 1986 bargain in an even bigger way.

By May of 1991, construction of a full-service campus located on Cypress Creek Road, two miles west of Highway 183, was completed–surprisingly, ahead of schedule. Richard Armenta, dean of the Northridge Campus and the soon-to-open Leander/Cedar Park facility (i.e. Cypress), announced that ACC’s newest campus to date would hold classes during the coming summer session. The brand-new Cypress facility contained 32,000 square feet of floor space, enough to accommodate 1,500 to 2,000 students. The campus contained up-to-date digital equipment for teaching electronics and drafting as well as personalized tutoring labs. It also offered paved parking, an amenity that the Oaks campus lacked. Counsellors were present to assist students with registration–always needed but not always provided in times past.

 

Source: Austin American-Statesman Archives, March 26, 1990,  March 15, 2001.