The Utah State Legislature granted approval to transfer or update three facilities recently, as part of the University of Utah’s ongoing project to revamp the Health Sciences Center.
On Feb. 12, the Health Sciences Center received approval from the Legislature’s Capital Facilities Appropriation Committee to proceed with three projects: the Moran Eye Center II, the Huntsman Cancer Research Hospital and the Emma Eccles Jones Medical Sciences Building.
All three projects are not funded by the state, but, as affiliates of the U, they required approval by the Legislature before construction could commence, said Kim Wirthlin, assistant vice president for health sciences.
The requests to the Legislature all included a formal notice that, once the buildings are constructed, the U may ask the state for operation and maintenance funds, Wirthlin said.
The John A. Moran Eye Center will move from its location just east of the University Hospital’s helipad to a site immediately south of Primary Children’s Medical Center.
The $36 million needed to construct the building will come primarily from research funds and private donors, possibly including John Moran, the philanthropist who provided funding to build the current center, Moran center spokesman Chris Nelson said.
Moran, a U alumnus, will make an announcement of his continued financial commitment to the department of ophthalmology on Feb. 26.
The cancer research hospital, branching north off the existing Huntsman Cancer Institute, will cost about $100 million to build and cover about 250,000 square feet.
The Huntsman family has committed $60 million to the project. The remaining $40 million will come from U reserves and state funds from the tobacco settlement. The facilities committee agreed to a $5 million donation to the hospital.
The Eccles Jones Building, which plans to increase the School of Medicine’s academic research capabilities, had already been approved for about 100,000 square feet, but the U asked the Legislature to approve an additional 25,000 square feet.
While there is no schedule yet for designing and constructing the Eccles Jones Building, the U facilities planning department estimates the project will cost $35 million.
One of the U’s long-term projects, which they plan to present to a future legislative session, is the Health Sciences Education Center. To be situated between the College of Nursing and the Biopolymers Research Building, the center will feature high-tech classrooms for nursing, medicine, pharmacy and other health-care professions.
The U will ask the Legislature to help fund the education center next year, but no specifics are available, said Linda Amos, associate vice president for health sciences.
The U also plans to split its medical resources from the medical school into two new facilities, the Health Sciences Ambulatory Clinic and the Medical Science Building II. Modernizing the School would cost more than building a replacement, Amos said.
“[The School] is a building that we will have to demolish,” Amos said.
School of Medicine academic and research resources will be directed into Medical Science Building II. The U will seek legislative approval for these buildings in a few years, but funding will come primarily from the hospital’s clinical revenue.
The U Hospital expansion, which the Legislature approved several years ago, will increase the facility size by 11,350 square feet, said hospital administrator Dan Lundergan. By fall 2002, the expanded facilities should be fully operational.
