The 137,000 square-foot, $22.5 million-dollar Advanced Technology Center has been developed by a special state/city partnership of the Commonwealth of Virginia through Tidewater Community College, the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and the City of Virginia Beach. The City of Virginia Beach provided $12.5 million in funding and the Commonwealth of Virginia contributed the land and an additional $10 million. The center provides a unique blueprint for technical education in Virginia Beach, and for the nation as a whole. 

The facility is located on the Virginia Beach Campus of Tidewater Community College, adjacent to the new Virginia Beach Higher Education Center operated by Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University, and across the street from Virginia Beach's Landstown High School and Sentara’s Health Sciences Campus. The adjoining facilities create what city officials and those in the education community are calling an academic village for Virginia Beach.

The Advanced Technology Center will help the public schools and the community college meet projected enrollment figures for training in technology. It will also assist in addressing the demand among Hampton Roads' employers for a well-trained and educated workforce, especially in the areas of information technology and engineering. Most importantly, it will ensure that local students and citizens have the best possible career opportunities in the new millennium.