Last week we talked about the efforts that Jim Mininger - the LCC president at the time - put into having LCC accredited. Now, let's turn our attention to another important chapter of LCC's life.

It was the Board's vision and intention to acquire land and a building for LCC, but the right place was slow to show itself. Several options were considered, but ultimately rejected. For instance, one school near the city center was available, but was too small. Another school was big, but was too far away from existing LCC facilities. Even a particular building on the spit presented itself as an option; however, it was isolated by lengthy ferry rides. Dalius Butkus, an LCC graduate and the former director of LCC's public relations office, and the LCC president Jim Mininger continued the search.

Finally, the owner of a partially completed medical clinic approached Dalius with the offer to purchase the building.

In the fall of 1997 at the LCC Board of Directors meeting, the Board approved the purchase of the building from the doctor who was developing it when independence came, and money was no longer available. The structure had been roofed, and windows installed. The unfinished building was located next to a large undeveloped portion of land owned by the Klaipeda municipality. A small lake decorated the center of the 17 acres of land (ca. 7 hectares).

Why was an unfinished structure with costly renovation sums the final decision? One of the main reasons was that the creatively designed buildings were large enough to allow growth in the student and faculty body in the future. The pillar reason, however, was that the surrounding area had already been designated for educational purposes - meaning that with the purchase, LCC would also have the capacity to vastly expand the campus itself in many, many years to come.