The most significant campus expansion project in the history of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which will include construction of a new hospital, recently got under way. The initial phase includes doubling the size of the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute.

Construction on campus will accelerate next year with the start of an estimated $200 million project that will include a replacement for the current 50-year-old hospital, a psychiatry facility, a new student dormitory, a parking deck, an expansion of the Outpatient Center and a power plant. Design work is already under way for the project that will stretch over the next four years and also include UAMS assisting the state with construction of a new state hospital west of campus.

“This will be one of the the largest construction projects in Arkansas since they built the Arkansas River navigational series of locks in the 1960s,” said Leo Gehring, UAMS Vice Chancellor for Campus Operations. “We are going to transform the west side of the campus.”

Though the final designs and locations haven’t been finalized, the new buildings will be near Hooper Drive and on some of the 32 acres of land given to UAMS by the state in return for assistance in building the new State Hospital.

The designs will also include plans for green space. Professional garden designer P. Allen Smith has been enlisted to help as early plans call for a large plaza between the new hospital and new psychiatry facility as well as a peaceful “healing garden” for patients, families and employees.

Construction started in November on the five floor expansion to the 10-year old Jones Eye Institute and will be nearing completion by late 2005. Other construction projects will be starting mid-2005.

“By late 2008 or early 2009 we hope to be in the new hospital,” Gehring said. In his annual State of the Campus address in September, UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said solid financial statements, an increase in student enrollment and exponential growth in federal research grants has made UAMS fiscally ready for the ambitious expansion project.

In addition, he said, upgrading the hospital as it sits alongside UAMS’ other centers of excellence such as the Eye Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging and the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute is critical to retaining the reputation of world-class care that draws patients from every state in the U.S. and 34 foreign countries.

“Why would you have all these wonderful facilities and a 50-year-old hospital?” Wilson asked during the state of the campus presentation. “The critical time is now because these programs will deteriorate without expansion and replacement.”

The design phase will end early next year, then building contracts will be completed and work will begin on all projects near simultaneously. The new hospital project will start with the demolition of the existing student dorm and Jeff Banks Student Union.

Gehring said UAMS employees will first notice road work as Hooper Drive is re-routed. The street will remain open as the work is performed in phases, he said.

Here is what is planned for each project:

New UAMS Medical Center - A nine-floor patient tower and a 10-floor tower for other services are planned at the location of the current student dormitory. The hospital would be about 463,000 square feet and be completed by the end of 2008 or early 2009. The existing hospital building could be used for some programs and services forced off-campus because of lack of space.

Expansion of Jones Eye Institute - Steel work on the five-floor addition, to be called the Pat Walker Tower, will  begin in early 2005, with completion by late 2005. The 50,000-square-foot expansion will provide additional clinic, research and office space as well as more room for the Arkansas Lions Eye Bank.

New psychiatry center - A four-floor outpatient facility and a two-floor inpatient facility will consolidate all psychiatric clinicians, researchers and educators – currently scattered across campus – in one building. The entire facility is expected to be complete by 2007.

New student dormitory - The existing student dorm and union will be torn down in mid 2005 to make room for the hospital. Gehring said other arrangements are being made for student housing for the 2005-2006 school year. The five-floor, 138,000-square-foot dorm will be built near the intersection of Markham Street and Hooper Drive.

Outpatient Center Expansion - A six-floor, 109,884-square-foot expansion to the Outpatient Center will include more space for clinical and other services. It is slated for completion by early to mid-2007.

Parking deck and power plant - The fivefloor, 245,000-square-foot parking deck will be built next to the new hospital. It will have 1,000 parking spaces, intended primarily for hospital employees, patients and visitors. It is slated for completion by late 2006. The new 12,000-square-foot West Central Plant will house utilities for the new facilities. It is scheduled for completion by mid to late 2006.