In the spring of 2017, the Grayson County Extension Agents with staff began compiling a wish list for future development of a new building. Agents visited newer built offices to discuss with fellow agents and staff what they liked or wished they had done differently after their projects were complete. After taking some time and developing the list, they presented to the Extension District Board and Architect firm that was hired. The firm immediately began developing the list into an initial design. The site of the new building would be located on Quarry Road, which has 31 acres purchased by the Grayson County Extension Foundation in 2014. By September of 2017, the firm began presentations of probable cost of a main Extension building, as well as a multi-use building for the site.

As projects go, many changes were made throughout the initial processes, including flipping the side of the building the meeting rooms were on to allow for potential expansion in the future. The group also learned in the development process, that the county’s bypass roadway would be expanding and come by the property. With that knowledge and planning with funding, it was opted to hold off on the multi-use building until a later time. Funds for developing the new building had been saved over many years and roughly half of the project cost was available on hand while the other half would be taken by loan through a local bank. Total cost for the project is approximately $3.2 million.

Construction began at the end of March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The contracting group never had any slowdowns or issues related to the virus and had the building substantially completed at the beginning of April 2021. The moving process began at that time, and Extension staff began fully operating in the new building on April 13.

At the previous Extension Office location, there was 865 square feet of office space with 6 workstations and 2197 square feet of meeting space which included a small kitchen/meeting room that held 8-10 people, a medium meeting room that was only available during office hours and could hold 15-20, and a large meeting room that held approximately 75 people depending how the room was set up. As well as an outside storage building.

The new Extension Office upgraded the agents and staff to 4575 square feet of office space with 10 work stations, 7700 square feet of meeting space, and 540 of ‘other’ space. In the features of the new building, the offices are spacious have a closet for program storage; additionally, they have an indoor storage room providing for temperature control and better inventory of items not on hand in each office. The support staff area now provides extra space for them to work on various tasks, a large workstation, three visitor stations; one set up specifically to take samples and prepare for shipping, and a samples lab area which includes common ag items for check out. At the staff entrance of the building, is a staging area and a prep room to be used for preparing for events like 4-H Camp, where items are accumulated for weeks prior to the event. Additionally in the office side of the building is a board conference room that is set up to hold 10 participants.

The lobby of the new building features sitting areas which allows for participants to gather before/after a meeting or if they are waiting on someone to finish up. The large meeting room can hold over 300 participants; depending on set up; and can be split into smaller meeting rooms. This function has allowed for multiple groups/meetings to occur at the same time, whereas before agents and volunteer groups were vying for space. A demonstration kitchen has 4 stations as well as a mobile teaching station; the mobile station can be moved into the middle of the large meeting room for a demonstration only lesson and can allow for more participants to be in attendance for that program. A project room is set up to facilitate many projects, particularly those that can may be messy; this room could be sprayed down with a water hose if needed; it also opens to a covered outdoor area that can allow for multi-location activities.

Future development plans include building the multiuse building for expansion of events and hosting field days and Farmers’ Market location. The local Beekeepers Association plans to put hives on the property for educational purposes. The Master Gardener Association plans to work with the ANR agent on future horticulture on-site projects. Agents and staff look forward to hosting the annual Farm Fest event at the new site this fall.