CREDIT: INTERROBANG FILE PHOTO
Fanshawe College made a conditional offer on the Market Tower building located in the heart of London’s downtown.

Fanshawe College forged onward with its downtown campus plans by making a conditional offer for purchase of the Market Tower building located at the corner of Richmond and Dundas Streets.

The College will be assessing the building over the next few months to determine whether it will meet Fanshawe's needs.

Elaine Gamble, senior manager of Corporate Communications at the College, said Fanshawe has been looking at increasing its downtown presence and felt that the Market Tower building suited the school's needs best.

“It's very easy to adapt that building to classrooms,” she said. “It also meets the fire requirements and regulations for classrooms.”

Fanshawe will be considering which programs and activities would be most suitable, given the space; these kinds of assessments can take up to a year.

“There are a number of programs that would prefer to be (downtown) rather than at the edge of the city,” outgoing Fanshawe College President Dr. Howard Rundle told the London Free Press.

“We know that the city has designated that area as an arts and education sector, so arts programming might be a natural fit,” said Gamble.

“I've seen a number of cities with post-secondary (schools) in the core,” Rundle said. “There are some things I get personally invested in a bit. The downtown initiative is one of them.”

With hundreds of Fanshawe students slated to study in the downtown area, Gamble said residence buildings could be on the horizon.

“The president mentioned that it's a possibility that we would look at whether we put residential spaces downtown,” she said.

“I think it's going to change the fabric of downtown a lot. I think (students) are going to bring a whole new energy to the area. It's great having young people around because they're excited, they're involved in things.”