In recent months, a UND committee decided on the location for the new Medical School building.

An 8.25 acre plot of land on the southwest corner of the intersection of North Columbia Road and Gateway Drive has been chosen as the future location for the new home of the UND Medicine and Health Sciences building.

“The selection of a building site is a critical milestone in the construction of our new School of Medicine and Health Sciences facility and, ultimately, our ability to better serve the State of North Dakota,” President Robert Kelley said in a UND press release. “Many people were involved in this process, and I particularly want to thank the Site Recommendation Committee charged with evaluating building site options and providing recommendations.”

The Decision

The decision of the location for the new building was made based on factors such as land available, parking, distance from campus and accessibility, along with gas and water availability.

The Site Recommendation Committee included UND administrators Joshua Wynne, Alice Brekke, Peggy Lucke and Randy Eken; Grand Forks City Planner Brad Gengler and Lonnie Laffen, CEO and president aof JLG Architects.

“This facility is the critical component in the SMHS’s Health Care Workforce Initiative” said Wynne in a UND press release. “(It is) a plan to help address North Dakota’s health care workforce needs now and in the future by reducing disease burden, retaining more of the school’s graduates for practice in North Dakota, training more practitioners, and improving the efficiency of the state’s health care delivery system.”

Completion

While the decision of where to build is a significant step toward the construction of the building, it will be a while before we see the completed building.

The ground breaking for the new building is planned to take place in July 2014. The building is anticipated to be completed by  July 2016.