More training for Scout Motors, other trade jobs slated for Midlands. Here’s where.

Just weeks after a new $5 million facility opened at Midlands Technical College to train future Scout Motors employees, the school is eyeing its next project to bolster the automotive company’s workforce development.

Midlands Technical College wants to purchase a roughly 74,500 square foot building across the street from its campus in Springdale, near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport, according to a project summary submitted to the legislative Joint Bond Review Committee.

While the building would ideally house several different advanced manufacturing practices, its anchor program could be mechatronics, said Greg Little, the president of Midlands Technical College, in an interview with The State. Mechatronics combines electronics, robotics and mechanics. The training could set students at Midlands Tech up for high-paying trade jobs at Scout Motors, or other similar advanced manufacturing companies in the region, Little said.

Scout Motors, a U.S. subsidiary of Volkswagen, is opening a manufacturing plant in Blythewood. Over the next several years, Scout expects to hire 4,000 people at the plant.

The company’s expansion into the Midlands has propelled the local technical college to expand the mechatronics program. The program currently has about 90 students and is full, Little said.

“We’re going to need to grow our program exponentially,” Little said.

On Tuesday, the Joint Bond Review Committee approved the first $45,000 phase of the project, according to state staff. The local technical college is expecting to pay $5.9 million for the building, according to the project summary. The building is located at 3245 Platt Spring Road, and the property, including parking, spans over six acres. It would include classrooms, labs and offices, Little said. There isn’t a timeline set on the project, but Little said purchasing an existing building will shave two to three years off development.

The building purchase is in early stages, and plans are not set in stone, Little said. But the school is anticipating increasing demand for its advanced manufacturing programs over the next decade, and the new building would help accommodate more students, he said.

This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "More training for Scout Motors, other trade jobs slated for Midlands. Here’s where.."