The system plans to close on 75 acres in July at the intersection of N.C. 54 and Watkins Road, said Mort Congleton, vice president for college development with the system.

“We’ve been looking for a site for over a year,” Congleton said.

Congleton said that school officials liked the Morrisville site because of its close proximity to I-540 and the Research Triangle Park.

The new campus will be the system’s “high-tech” campus, Congleton said, with strong emphasis on subjects like biomedicine, nanotechnology and training programs specific to some of the area’s large high-tech employers.

The Morrisville campus, which will be called the Western Wake campus, will be the fourth campus for the system that has three other locations in Raleigh.

A facility within the Millpond Village shopping center off Kildaire Farm Road in Cary currently carries the moniker Western Wake Campus. The Morrisville facility will take over this name once it is completed, though the Cary location will be kept for classroom use, Congleton said.

Officials hope to start construction of the $200 million campus in 2012, with buildout taking a total of 15 to 20 years.

Congleton said that the campus could eventually have one million square feet in eight to 12 buildings.

The first phase will be one 75,000-square-foot building that could be open for students in 2014.

Funds from a 2007 bond issue will pay for the project’s land acquisition — Wake Tech would like to acquire around 100 acres total at the site.

Another bond issue around 2010 will be needed to pay for construction, Congleton said.