Erie Community College continues to push ahead with plans for a new academic building on the North Campus in Amherst.

While it’s still early in the process, there’s interest in a four-story, 100,000-square-foot health science building facing Main Street, ECC President Jack F. Quinn Jr. said Wednesday.

The college’s board of trustees directed Quinn to work with Erie County to start seeking design proposals.

“I don’t think we can proceed with any serious fundraising without designs in hand,” said Chairwoman Patricia A. Krzesinski.

County Executive Chris Collins in April said the county would borrow $7.5 million in 2012 for a new academic building, if the college could raise the same amount. The state would bond $15 million to pay for the other half of the project.

ECC, meanwhile, has figured out how to help pay for its portion.

Income generated by renting out campus facilities — which traditionally has gone into the college’s general fund — now will be set aside each year for capital projects, according to Quinn, who said that’s at least $500,000 a year.

In turn, he said, that money will be matched by the State University of New York, which gave its approval to the idea earlier this week.

“This is a big win for ECC — huge,” Quinn said. “What we got now is a regular stream of revenue so we can patch holes or put it together for a bigger project.”

ECC has never budgeted for capital improvements for the college, instead counting on the county to pay for the work.

But in recent years, capital money coming to ECC has been slow, as the debate simmered on consolidation of ECC downtown. The North Campus, in particular, fell into disrepair.

In other business, Quinn noted that ECC has been named one of the Top 100 two-year colleges in the country, on the basis of associate’s degrees offered.

Community College Week magazine ranked ECC 46th overall in the publication’s 2010 report “100 Top Associate’s Degree and Certificate Producers,” which is based on data from the 2008-09 academic year.

ECC was ranked 42nd in 2009, based on awarding 1,774 associate’s degrees in 2007-08.