Dignitaries and members of the community during a ceremonial turning of the soil Thursday morning for the groundbreaking of CEI’s new Future Tech Building. Watch highlights in the video above. | Video by Isabella Sosa-Salazar, EastIdahoNews.com

IDAHO FALLS – College of Eastern Idaho officially broke ground on its new Future Tech Building Thursday morning.

Construction on the 88,000-square-foot building is now underway in an empty field on the north side of the Idaho Falls campus. The two-level building will house energy, innovation and technology-related courses, such as cybersecurity and mechatronics, as well as IT and STEM programs.

“It’s constructed in a very open way. We don’t know what the careers are going to be in the future and it will be built in a way to accommodate that,” former CEI President Rick Aman tells EastIdahoNews.com.

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In addition to classroom space, the building will have a conference center, field testing laboratories and a large gathering area for business and civic events, student group projects and bay space. Watch an animated fly-through of the building here.

The total cost of the project is about $50 million. Of that amount, about $32 million is being funded by taxpayers. The rest of the money is coming from grants and donations from the private sector.

The building is slated for completion in the fall of 2026.

During the groundbreaking, Aman noted this is his last official act as CEI’s president. Lori Barber, who previously served as the vice president of Academic and Student Affairs, was appointed to fill the role in June, which went into effect Thursday.

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CEI is the only educational institution in Idaho without a career and technical education building, according to its website. These courses are in high demand and the new building will solve a lot of challenges with inadequate space and limited resources so CEI can provide a “state-of-the-art” education for students.

Aman is thrilled to end his tenure by seeing this project come to fruition after three years of planning.

“What a fitting end, what a wonderful completion for me in my tenure as president. I couldn’t be more proud,” Aman says.

RELATED | College of Eastern Idaho President Rick Aman to retire in July

Barber was heavily involved in planning for this building in her previous role and is excited to oversee its construction.

“I certainly can’t think of a more exciting way to begin this journey than by celebrating the start of something so transformative for our students, faculty, staff and the community,” Barber said during the groundbreaking. “We’re not merely constructing a building, we’re laying the foundation for a legacy that will inspire and endure for generations to come.”

Anderson Construction has been selected as the general contractor for the project.

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GROUNDBREAKING IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.