In a series of meetings with groups of UAMS employees, Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., is discussing the importance of the current $255 million construction project as well as future campus expansion possibilities. 

While workers prepared in October to pour the concrete slab for the new UAMS residence hall, Wilson detailed the major projects of the construction initiative, including a 500,000-square-foot hospital expansion and the Psychiatric Research Institute, both scheduled to begin in 2006. 

“It is exciting to see all of these important projects taking shape around campus,” said Wilson.  “Coordinating such a large venture is challenging, and I’m constantly reminded of how much goes into planning and how many critical details are involved. 

“We need to build for the future and anticipate our needs as accurately as possible. Our hospital is simply stretched beyond its limits now – already, we know we need more space than we originally thought, so we are shelling additional floors. We’ll have an aggressive fund-raising campaign to help finish out additional areas.” 

Campus Construction Ongoing

Work is proceeding on projects such as the five-floor addition to the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, nearing an early 2006 completion. The residence hall work continues, while construction starts nearby on the new bookstore off Hooper Drive – both projects slated for completion next year.

The Arkansas State Hospital auditorium is being torn down in advance of relocating a portion of Hooper Drive. Hendrix Hall, formerly west of the Veterans Hospital, was demolished recently to provide a staging area for the hospital addition and psychiatric facility. 

While construction has not started on the hospital or psychiatric building, hospital and Department of Psychiatry representatives are working with architects and facility planners to finalize details such as locations of doors and electrical outlets. Those facilities are expected to be complete during 2008. 

The hospital addition has grown in scope, as two floors with unfinished interior shell space have been added to the top to allow for future growth.  The hospital addition will now be 10 stories, with a three-level, 1,000-space parking deck, while the adjacent psychiatric building will have five floors.  Construction on the parking deck is expected to begin in early 2006. 

The current student dormitory is being prepared to be imploded, an event now scheduled for Sunday, March 5. Construction on the hospital addition will begin by next summer after the dorm debris is cleared.

A student parking lot off West Seventh Street will be closed in December to become the site of the power plant building that will supply utilities and other support systems for the hospital expansion and other new facilities. A replacement student lot will open nearby at the same time, in front of the UAMS Distribution Center.

Beyond 2008

With the current construction slated to be complete by 2008, the chancellor is already looking ahead. The state’s aging population and increased demand for health care services are factors driving those future plans, he said.

By 2013, the chancellor said, expansions to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, the Outpatient Center and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging could be completed. Also, plans call for a new education building as programs are expanded to educate more health care workers. 

To keep traffic moving smoothly and efficiently, long-range plans include the introduction of traffic circles along West Seventh Street at intersections with Shuffield Drive, Jack Stephens Drive and Cedar Street. New access from Interstate 630 is also considered.