Dallas College’s El Centro Campus is gaining ground in its effort to expand its downtown footprint.
Dallas College Chancellor Justin Lonon told The Dallas Morning News the community college system is working to identify a development partner for the project by the spring. The plan is funded by a $1.1 billion bond passed by voters in 2019.
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The project should help Dallas College provide more education access to residents, said Lonon, who added it would also create benefits for the financial companies seeking Texas talent.
The Education Lab
Here are five things to know about El Centro:
The exterior of Dallas College’s El Centro Campus in downtown Dallas on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
Dallas voters created the Dallas County Junior College District in 1965, approving a $41.5 million bond to finance it, college archives show.
The Sanger Bros. Department Store building on Main Street, built in 1910, was purchased for over $2 million to serve as the first campus, El Centro, which opened in 1966.
The campus had 4,047 students on opening day, archives show, and by 1968, the college graduated 153 students from that campus. Over the years, El Centro expanded beyond the original downtown campus, adding the Bill J. Priest and West Dallas campuses.
Culinary programming
Toyosi Sule, influencer and a Dallas College graduate, poses for a portrait, on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, Dallas College Culinary, Pastry and Hospitality Center, in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
Accreditation wasn’t the only thing Dallas College celebrated in 2020. That’s also when El Centro acquired a 50,000-square-foot kitchen in northwest Dallas for its culinary arts and baking/pastry programs.
That matters, because the food service industry is one of Texas’ largest private sector employers, with about 1.4 million employees statewide, said Kelsey Erickson Streufert, chief public affairs officer for the Texas Restaurant Association.
Programs offered
El Centro is renowned for its nursing, culinary, hospitality and fashion programs, among other disciplines. It was the first campus of Dallas College to offer a nursing program and establish relationships with hospitals in the Dallas area, according to the college’s archives.
Community impact
High school students chat and exit outside of the Dallas College’s El Centro Campus in downtown Dallas on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
Not only is Dallas College one of the country’s largest awarders of associate degrees to Hispanic graduates, but its campuses have also been recognized as Hispanic Serving Institutions. This happens when institutions have at least 25% undergraduate Hispanic enrollment, and it typically comes with access to federal grants supporting students and workforce development.
At El Centro, this resulted in students receiving free access to financial literacy workshops, academic tutoring, internship/apprenticeship opportunities, and success coaches, among other resources.
What’s next
The expanded 801 Main Street campus location will significantly expand El Centro’s capacity and programming, Lonon said.
The reimagined campus is expected to enhance workforce development programs, particularly in financial services and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
“We can do that even more seamlessly” with new space and focus, Lonon said.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.