NASHVILLE — State officials have given the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga the official nod to proceed with selecting a designer and construction manager/general contractor for the new home of its School of Nursing program.
The planned $60.8 million health sciences building, which was included in Gov. Bill Lee’s $52.6 billion budget, received unanimous approval from State Building Commission members on Thursday.
When complete, UTC officials have said, the estimated 92,192-square-foot facility will serve as the new home of the university’s School of Nursing, also providing simulated lab space. Their hope is it will help the nursing program’s enrollment to grow by 60%, providing badly needed nurses not only in Chattanooga and Hamilton County but other parts of Southeast Tennessee.
“It’ll not only be helpful, it’ll be incredibly impactful for the region around Chattanooga,” UT System President Randy Boyd told the Chattanooga Times Free Press as he left a Cordell Hull State Office Building meeting room after getting the official approval to proceed. “We have a desperate need for more nurses, and this will give us the ability to create a lot more nurses.”
Boyd estimated it will likely take two years before it’s built but quickly added, “I don’t know the exact date, we’re just now getting architects and the project designed.”
State Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, a physical therapist and the market director for therapy services at HCA Parkridge Medical Center, said the new nursing school and lab building “comes at a critical time in the state’s strategy to address workforce development challenges in the health care sector, especially nursing.
“The new building and lab will incorporate technological advances in nurse training that simply aren’t possible in an older facility,” Watson said in a text on Friday. “The new nursing building deepens UTC’s footprint in the clinical health care space along with well-established doctorate-level physical therapy, occupational therapy, exercise science, athletic training and public health programs.”
According to the State Building Commission, the project seeks to use the construction manager/general contractor procurement method “due to the need for multiple bid packages to accelerate the schedule” as well as help in “keeping the budget in check.”
The state budget is providing $55.93 million for the building, while the remaining $4.84 million would come from university sources and/or donor gifts.
University officials have long sought a new nursing building to expand the nursing program and train more nurses for what officials say is a medically underserved Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee region.
The project fits in with Chattanooga’s effort to work with academia and the health care industry through its Third and Fourth streets “medical corridor.” That’s an effort to link downtown-headquartered BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee with UTC, as well as Erlanger Health Services, Siskin Children’s Institute, CHI Memorial and Parkridge Medical Center along with physicians’ offices.
Two other major projects are included in the state’s 2022-23 budget.
One is a $40 million renovation of the seven-story, 174,000 square-foot former Interstate Life Insurance Building at 540 McCallie Ave., a 1950s era Art Moderne-style structure that later became a state office building before it was ceded to UTC.
The other UTC project provides $10.2 million in upgrades to Brock Hall at 623 Vine St. Plans call for replacing building systems, including heating, air conditioning and lighting, as well as upgrading restrooms while also addressing Americans With Disabilities Act issues along with repairs to the building’s outside, including masonry and roofing.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.
