Board of Trustees approves $22 million for CMU med school
A $22 million approval Thursday marks the medical school’s largest financial advance and Central Michigan University’s largest commitment to the project to date.
The Board of Trustees approved the $22 million for the construction of a 62,000-square-foot addition to the Health Professions Building to house CMU’s School of Medicine.
Add that to the already $2 million trustees set aside for engineering and architectural design, and the project has a budget of $24 million.
“That’s actually on the low side,” said Cam Enarson, interim dean of the medical school.
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He said the project’s cost is low when compared to other institutions and universities with brand-new medical school buildings.
Enarson used examples such as the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa., and Texas Tech’s medical school, both built from scratch for larger-scale estimate by space provided. Commonwealth has an estimated 190,000-plus-square foot size, while Texas Tech was built at about 125,000-square feet specifications. Both constructed new buildings.
The lower cost comes from building an addition to the Health Professions Building. Funds for the project will come from gifts, grants and university reserves. Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said the university requires private fundraising for all major projects.
Trustee Sam Kottamasu said the capital fundraising goal is $10 million. The total campaign goal is $25 million, he said.
“This really is about half the cost of most our recent projects,” Wilbur said. “The education building, $50 million. The Health Professions building, $50 million. Charles V. Park Library was $50 million.
“This won’t exceed $24 million and, compared to all the other estimates from scratch, the cost is far under Commonwealth and Texas Tech. They were all three figures.”
Inside the building
The addition will be built to accreditation standards set by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and will be designed for silver level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building will be two stories, and directly connected to the northwest side of the Health Professions Building.
Teaching space will cover about 21,000 square feet of the building, including a 125-person capacity lecture hall, 11 small group rooms, two discussion rooms, two cadaver rooms, a resource room, two simulation rooms and 12 clinical skills exam rooms.
Another 7,200 square feet will be allotted for student services. This includes a library for collections and reserves, a learning commons, a quiet study, a lounge and a kitchen.
Enarson said all of these items are requirements for medical school accreditation.
“An unaccredited medical school is not something we’re interested in,” said Trustee Stephanie Comai. “There are very strict standards you have to get through to achieve that.”
Enarson said if the medical school student enrollment outgrows the facility, the addition could instead act as an extension for the College of Health Professions. When completed, the building will total 173,000 square feet when combined with the Health Professions Building.
“Right from the start, this could be used for some of the health professions classes,” said Trustee Sarah Opperman.
The Health Professions Building addition is scheduled for completion in spring 2012, and the medical school’s inaugural class is still anticipated for fall 2012.
There is no start date set for construction, and Wilbur said the university will be looking for a contractor for the project.
