Economic development leaders soon will ask local governments for $1 million in funding to help cover the construction costs to start a new technical education center in Lawrence.

An executive with the Lawrence chamber of commerce told a local crowd on Tuesday that leaders of the Peaslee Technical Training Center in December would approach both the Lawrence City Commission and the Douglas County Commission for $500,000 apiece in funding. The money would be used to do interior renovations on an industrial building that has been purchased near 31st Street and Haskell Avenue to house the school.

“The one thing I’ve learned from site selectors is workforce training is the key component to an economic development program, and we’ve been missing it for a long time here,” Larry McElwain, president of The Chamber, told an economic development update breakfast. “We’re on the threshold now.”

The funding request won’t be entirely unexpected at Lawrence City Hall and the Douglas County Courthouse. Leaders of the Peaslee Center, which is being developed by The Chamber and the Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County, had predicted such funding might be necessary. But city and county officials have waited to see whether the project would win a $10 million federal grant that a consortium of area community colleges had sought for the center.

In September, leaders learned the grant application was not successful. Hugh Carter, vice president of external affairs at The Chamber, said the center will need the city and county funding in order to meet its goal of opening for classes in August 2015. The center hopes to open at the same time as the Lawrence school district’s College and Career Center. The district’s center will be adjacent to the Peaslee Center. The Lawrence Public School’s facility primarily will focus on providing technical classes to high school students, while the Peaslee Center largely will focus on providing technical training to postsecondary students.

Carter said the Ecomomic Development Corporation — the nonprofit that manages the East Hills Business Park — will contribute $200,000 to the building renovations. That is in addition to the approximately $850,000 that the EDC already has invested in the project, which has included purchasing the building.

Carter said a board has been appointed for the Peaslee Center, and discussions have been with a host of major businesses about their technical training needs. Carter said classes that provide training in elements of manufacturing and automotive technology are expected to be some of the first offerings at the school. He said leaders also are evaluating whether there is demand to provide training in the construction industry.

Carter said a group of community colleges, including Neosho County Community College, Johnson County Community College and Kansas City Kansas Community College, are still interested in the center, but are less involved following the rejection of the federal grant application.

Carter said some of the first classes taught at the center likely won’t be college-credit courses, but likely will be shorter, specialized classes designed to accommodate employees at existing firms.

“Automotive dealers spend a tremendous amount of money sending their employees to sessions across the region,” Carter said. “That may be something we can do here.”

Eventually, college-credit courses of a technical nature are expected to be offered at the center, Carter said. The center already has a director in place — a former leader of Kansas University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute — and actually is offering next week its first multiday training session, a course in hydraulics, at a business in the East Hills Business Park.

“We are creating something that we haven’t done here before,” said Marvin Hunt, the director of the Peaslee Center. “But I like those type of challenges. If you don’t do those sort of things, a community can stagnate.”