BANGOR (AP) – The Maine Army National Guard has chosen Bangor for a $28 million regional training center that would provide an upgraded and expanded version of existing facilities now housed at Camp Keyes in Augusta.

The training center, to be built on federal land adjacent to the Armed Forces Reserve Center, is envisioned as being similar to a college campus with classrooms, a dormitory, cafeteria, athletic facilities and an outdoor track, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Morton.

Federal funding is already in place, said Morton, the Guard’s programming and planning manager. The Guard hopes to begin construction in 2008.

Members of the 240th Training Regiment will use the facility, which will be one of several in New England that work collaboratively, each focusing on specialized training disciplines, Morton told a workshop of city officials Monday.

Though most of the center’s students will come from Maine, the training facility could attract soldiers from throughout New England and beyond, Morton said. “You could have students from all over the United States,” he said.

The facility also will be accessible to the Air National Guard and local law enforcement agencies that want to train on the simulated shooting programs, he said.

The Guard’s healthy working relationship with the city of Bangor was one of several factors that led Maj. Gen. John Libby, adjutant general of the Maine Army National Guard, to choose Bangor as the center’s home, Morton said.

The city’s support of the Army National Guard and the institute’s proximity to Bangor International Airport and existing Army Guard facilities and troops made the city a natural fit, he said.