The city of Ottawa took its first steps toward securing property that one day could house a satellite campus for Illinois Valley Community College.

During a press conference Monday morning, representatives from IVCC, the city and Centrue Bank announced the city's intention to purchase an option to buy the bank's operations center at 321 W. Main St., the former U.S. Post Office building.

The option would give the city 90 days to complete the transaction, paying $700,000 on the $1.1 million building. Centrue then would cover the remaining $400,000 as a contribution to the project. IVCC would lease the building.

Mayor Bob Eschbach believes locating a satellite campus downtown will help the city move forward with economic development, as well as providing educational opportunities for residents.

IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said now that the city has an option to purchase the building, he and other administrators at the college will hammer out a business plan to present to the IVCC Board of Trustees at its Thursday, July 23, meeting.

If the board approves the proposal, the city can move ahead with the purchase.

An earlier, tentative proposal was for IVCC to enter a four-year lease with the city, with the city waiving the lease payments for the first year so the college can focus on marketing the new campus.

Corcoran said about 29 percent of high school graduates from the eastern part of IVCC's district are served by the college at present. However, numbers are closer to 50 percent at La Salle-Peru High School, St. Bede Academy and Hall High School, which are closer to the Oglesby campus.

Corcoran would like to see the number of graduates on the east end of the district served by the college climb to 40 to 50 percent. Ideally, classes would be offered at the new location by the fall semester of 2010.

"We don't want to duplicate efforts," said Rick Pearce, vice president for learning and student development. "If we're already offering a class off-site, we don't want to just do that here. What we want to do is reach the under-served people, bring in new people."

Some of the courses being considered are math, English, psychology, accounting, art, music and allied health. Courses for those seeking their GED also could be located there. The college also is talking with Northern Illinois University about the possibility of offering classes for those pursuing bachelor's or master's degrees at the Ottawa campus.

The city said the building is ideal given the parking available at the nearby city lot and because it is downtown, it would be more convenient for those in other communities, such as Streator. Eschbach noted if Central School is relocated, parking will be even more abundant in that area.

The 12,000-square-foot building likely will need remodeling for the college, but more will be known once the IVCC administration completes the plan — and the board approves.

Everett Solon, Centrue Bank Market president, said the employees located at the facility will be moved to the downtown bank branch across from the courthouse. No one will lose his or her job when the building closes.

Corcoran acknowledged a certain amount of risk comes with this proposal, but expected it to pay off for both the city and the college as enrollment increases. He cited a survey of 3,000 students from the east side of the district who took a class in the last year at IVCC. Of the 571 who responded, 534, or 93 percent, favored a campus in Ottawa.

"This may be the first time in our 85-year history that we would be opening a satellite campus at a site dedicated solely to our college," he said. "I believe it would make our courses more accessible to Ottawa, Streator and other nearby communities, and we are confident, increase our enrollment."