University moves forward with $350M building project in Memphis
University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus looking toward Downtown
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is taking its first step forward on a major project for its Memphis campus.
The Tennessee General Assembly’s State Building Commission (SBC) approved on Friday, Aug. 13, for UTHSC to begin selecting a designer for its proposed $350 million College of Medicine and Interdisciplinary Building. The request involves an allocation of $10 million dollars for the project's planning, design, and pre-construction phase.
The new College of Medicine building is expected to be 275,000 to 300,000 square feet. The project was approved by the UTHSC advisory board in November 2024.
Austin Oakes, University of Tennessee associate VP for capital projects, presented the project to the SBC. With its SBC approval, the project will now be proceeding with the process to “select a designer and [utilize] the construction manager/general contractor alternate delivery method” associated with the new building.
The largest share of the building will be for academic space, with other uses including individual and shared office space, and space for amenities and public areas.
Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, asked if the new building would accommodate growing training classes for medical doctors (MDs) at the college.
Utilizing the new building, UTHSC seeks to increase from 175 to 225 MD students. Oakes said the designers will be looking into class size flexibility.
“Part of our intention is to charge the design team … with looking at how we would potentially add on to the facility, and if there are ways that we can manage the design up front to accommodate larger class sizes in an easier way in the future,” Oakes said.
The building will be located in the green space between the UTHSC College of Pharmacy and the former Holiday Inn hotel building and adjacent buildings, which are set to be fully demolished at a cost of $19.37 million.