The new board immediately set out to address space needs in Union County and in the fall of 1999 purchased the 83,000 square foot former United Carolina Bank Operations Center (UCB) and 25 acres on Old Charlotte Highway in Monroe. The building was renovated to serve as the Continuing Education Center for the West Campus, and these offices moved from the old Belk Building in downtown Monroe in June. The WCEC, as it was dubbed at the time, opened for business in its new location on June 5, 2000.
During the spring of 2000, the South Piedmont Community College Foundation, Inc. was created to promote SPCC in the community while also seeking financial support for the college from the community. On May 8, 2000, the Union County Board of Commissioners voted to purchase approximately 25 acres of land adjacent to the Old Charlotte Highway site to make it possible for SPCC to expand its operations and build a complete campus at this location. The trustees made the decision to build the 43,000 square foot building originally planned for the Brewer Drive Campus on the Old Charlotte Highway site. With financial assistance from the Union County Board of Commissioners and Higher Education bond funds, the Old Charlotte Highway Campus grew to approximately 100 acres.
In 2002, a 35,000-square foot portion of the Lockhart-Taylor facility in Wadesboro was renovated. The institution opened the Lockhart-Taylor Center in summer 2002. The center, named for former N.C. Lieutenant Governor Pat Taylor and his wife, Elizabeth Lockhart Taylor, houses the Ingram Community Room, a conference facility that can accommodate up to 600 people, classrooms, and offices for the college and its East Campus continuing educational programs. The Lockhart-Taylor Center is an adaptive reuse of a former textile mill.
The L.L. Polk Campus also expanded after the new college was formed. In fall 2000, the Philip O. Whitaker Applied Technologies Center was dedicated. The Whitaker Center houses the college’s Auto Body Repair and Welding programs. In 2002, the 12,500-square foot Cyber Center/Learning Resources Center on the L.L. Polk Campus was completed. The $1.4 million Cyber Center, which houses the Horne Library, Raye Boardroom and community room, opened in 2002.
Construction began in May 2002 for the 42,600-square foot Technical Education/LRC Building to be completed in March 2003 at the Old Charlotte Highway campus. The $5.5 million, 42,427-square-foot technical education center (Building B), which also houses the Carpenter Library, opened in 2003. The former UCB building, now known as Building A, underwent minor renovations when purchased, with a major renovation project completed in 2005. This major renovation added a 10,000 square foot conference center that is available for community use.
Today, South Piedmont Community College enrolls more than 2,500 credit and 4,500 continuing education students each semester. The college offers over 100 degrees, diplomas and certificates in more than 40 program areas, employs about 240 full-time faculty, staff and administrators, and has an annual operating budget in excess of $15 million.