Palmer Campus Renovation Includes Advanced Culinary Center

Trident Technical College is renovating 26,000 square feet in its downtown Palmer Campus to house an advanced culinary center. 

The $7 million Palmer Campus project was approved by the General Assembly in 2004. This expansion of the Culinary Institute of Charleston will offer culinarians advanced specialty training in a top-notch Lowcountry facility to meet the demand for a broad range of culinary education. This expansion will accommodate 500 students and elevate the Institute’s total training capacity to 1,500 students.

The Culinary Institute facility on Main Campus offers students a two-year associate degree in culinary arts technology or hospitality and tourism management. The Culinary Institute at the Palmer Campus “takes it up a notch” by providing a venue for more advanced training and certifications.

This expansion at Palmer will provide resources for culinary studies such as food science and nutrition research, international cuisine, advanced pastry/artisan baking and beverage operations. The site also will provide opportunities for national organizations and agencies to offer advanced research and development activities as well as continuing education to culinary educators and industry professionals, making the Culinary Institute of Charleston one of the most comprehensive culinary educational institutions available.

The new facility will include:

• Teaching Kitchens – culinary laboratories accommodating 16 students per class for specific training in such areas as food trends, international cooking and food product development.
• Dining Room – a 55-seat dining area run by students as a dining room operations laboratory, open to the public.
• Auditorium Kitchen – a high tech broadcast kitchen auditorium to seat an audience of up to 100, host guest chefs and provide food specialty events.
• Beverage Operations Lab – a complete beverage laboratory for studies such as wine and viniculture, food/beverage pairings and mixology training.

As in other Culinary Institute of Charleston classes, the Palmer Campus will offer lab classes of no more than 16 students. LS3P, which also designed the CIC facility on Main Campus, was chosen in October of 2005 to design the Palmer facility. Completion of construction is planned for fall of 2007.