Construction crews are well into building the first phase of the CREST Center in Jonesboro, a 26,000-square-foot workforce training facility going up at 201 Longhorn Drive, directly across Aggie Road from the Judd Hill Farmers' Market. The $17 million project broke ground earlier this year, and organizers are planning a construction celebration in October to mark the milestone, with the building itself not expected to be finished until spring 2027.
The facility is the first phase of what Arkansas State University describes as a much larger undertaking. According to NEA Town Courier, construction is officially underway on the center's first phase, and per Arkansas State University, the Phase 1 building will include high-bay manufacturing labs, classroom space, and a computer lab. The full CREST Center is designed to eventually reach approximately 70,000 square feet across three phases, according to the Arkansas State University System, which approved Phase 1 construction in September, before 2026.
Who's Paying For It
Phase 1 is largely funded through a $7.5 million grant from the Arkansas Department of Commerce's Higher Industry Readiness through Educational Development program, known as HIRED, with additional money committed by Craighead County, Jonesboro Unlimited, and the Workforce Training Consortium, per the same ASU account. That HIRED grant is itself a slice of an $88 million statewide workforce funding pool created under Arkansas's Workforce Initiative Act of 2015, with its two tracks administered separately by the state Department of Commerce and the Division of Higher Education, according to the Office of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which notes the statewide initiative targets sectors including advanced manufacturing, steel production, and aerospace.
Private industry has also bought in. Jonesboro-based Hytrol Conveyor Company, which has operated in the city for more than 60 years, committed a $500,000 gift in August to become CREST's founding industry partner, prompting the ASU System Board of Trustees to name the facility's main workforce area the Hytrol Workforce Training Room, according to the ASU System.
A Shared Campus, Not A Turf War
Rather than competing for students, three institutions are sharing the building and its curriculum. The CREST initiative brings together Arkansas State University, ASU-Newport, and Arkansas Northeastern College in Blytheville to offer stackable credentials, including certificates of proficiency, technical certificates, and associate degrees in advanced manufacturing, steel technology, and industrial controls, per Arkansas State University.
Little Rock firm Clark Contractors LLC is serving as general contractor on the build, with architectural design handled by Dake Wells Architecture Inc., according to the Springfield Business Journal. Project leadership falls to Dr. Robin Myers, former chancellor of ASU-Mountain Home, according to Arkansas State University.
Training Is Already Happening
Even though the new building won't be ready until spring 2027, with workforce training classes expected to begin that fall, CREST programming hasn't waited on construction. Classes are already running out of Jonesboro's Industrial Park Workforce Training Center and existing A-State campus facilities, Arkansas State University reports, and the model is intentionally flexible — built around on- and off-ramps for concurrent high school students, underemployed adults, second-chance workers, and current employees looking to upgrade their skills rather than pursue a traditional four-year degree, according to Arkansas Business.
That early activity reflects the urgency behind the project. Northeast Arkansas' manufacturing boom — anchored by neighboring Mississippi County, the nation's top steel-producing county, where steelmakers including U.S. Steel, Nucor, and Hybar have poured in billions of dollars — has left employers scrambling for industrial technicians and process engineers, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Metals manufacturing accounts for 13.6% of total manufacturing statewide. CREST is meant to be the pipeline that keeps that growth staffed, giving Craighead and Mississippi county employers a steady stream of trained workers without forcing every student onto a four-year track.
