By Jessica Holdman
SCDaiyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — University of South Carolina leadership signed off Tuesday, Dec. 19 on architectural designs for its new $300 million School of Medicine building.
USC has billed the medical school as having “a transformational impact on health science research and health care delivery in the state of South Carolina.”
The health care campus marks the largest high-dollar project undertaken at any South Carolina public college. The university previously set aside money to cover one-third of the cost, it received about one-third of the necessary funding from the state legislature, and it will take on bond debt to finance the final third.
Construction will begin in 2025 and is expected to be fully completed in 2027.
The 308,000 square-foot building will house classrooms, medical simulation spaces, a health sciences library, labs and a cafe. USC will also have space for its proposed Brain Health Center, focused on research surrounding dementia and developmental disorders.
Future plans include up to four additional buildings on the 16-acre site within Columbia’s BullStreet District, a massive redevelopment project of the former site of the S.C. Department of Mental Health.
The move comes as the USC School of Medicine’s lease with the Department of Veteran Affairs for its current Garners Ferry Road site ends in 2030. The Garners Ferry building, which dates to the 1930s, needs $75 million in improvements, university officials have previously estimated. The VA hospital also needs the space for its own expanding operations.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
