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In his budget proposal, Gov. Tony Evers offered to enumerate costs for a nearly $200 million project to renovate a former hospital at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee into an academic space for health sciences students.

The university asked for $189.3 million to renovate five buildings at the Northwestern Quadrant into one location. The project calls for renovating and converting 306,970 square feet of hospital space into academic space and information technology support space, as the university faces growing demand and enrollment for future health professionals.

Evers included the request in this 2025-27 capital budget, in which he plans to use $4.1 billion for infrastructure and large-scale projects statewide. On Thursday, the governor visited UWM and the Northwestern Quadrant.

“The projects that UWM has planned are really going to make a difference on this campus, especially in the issues around health care providers. And we need so many more of them,” Evers said. “Everybody understands how important it is to have more health care workers, especially well-trained ones,” he added.

UWM enrolls 2,000 health sciences students each year, which is a 120% increase since 2000, university officials said. The renovation is expected to increase student capacity by 15%, creating a path for 300 more health sciences graduates each year, officials added. But the former hospital space isn’t suitable for academic use and hampers further growth.

Renovation work includes removing old hospital patient rooms and treatment rooms, replacing the aging building infrastructure including architectural, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications and plumbing systems, university officials said in their request. The building will also need new insulation and updates for building codes such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. The renovation covers around 306,970 square feet of the former hospital space, project planners said.

In 2010, UWM bought the hospital for $20.2 million as part of a 1.1 million-square-foot hospital complex. The university tore down a 103-year-old hospital space in the last several years and redeveloped the land. The university hired Kahler Slater as its consultant.

When renovation is completed, the space will be used for a new Rehabilitation Sciences Unit and home for departments such as athletic training, kinesiology, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Depending on funding and approval, the university scheduled final completion for 2030.

The governor’s proposal to fund the project will need approval from the Wisconsin State Legislature. After that, the project will go to the State Building Commission to be considered for enumeration. In 2023, the state gave $5 million to fund preliminary plans for renovation.