The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 135,000-square-foot medical education building.
The university says the facility will be the School of Medicine's first permanent building. It will accommodate a class size of up to 120, double the school's capacity.
The building will have training spaces for clinical skills, simulation and anatomy—both virtual and cadaveric dissection. The facility also will provide space for administrative offices and a learning resources center, and the classrooms will be various sizes to support problem-based learning.
The majority of the project has been funded by private donations, the university says.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that the project is moving forward even though some state funds originally earmarked for the project were lost to budget cuts driven by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak cut a $25 million pledge toward the building from the state budget this summer, as the business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the state’s coffers and caused a special session of the legislature to be called to cut over $1 billion.
The temporary shutdown of casinos, the lifeblood of Nevada’s economy, had drastic impacts on the amount of tax dollars flowing into state coffers this year.
The building’s original price estimate was $175 million to $200 million, but the development corporation carrying out the construction now says it should come in “significantly less” than $150 million.
Marc Kahn, dean of the Medical School, says the building will have an impact on both the area’s health care capabilities as well as the local economy.
“Having a new medical education building is going to allow us to train more physicians for the future health care needs for Nevada,” Kahn said.
Establishing the new building, Kahn said, also may help to draw biotechnology and pharmaceutical businesses to the area.
The building is slated to be completed in 2022
The architect is TSK Architects.
