The Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval to a $200 million medical campus off Bull Street at their regular meeting Friday. The campus will be built on 16 acres of land donated by a Greenville developer rather than 14 acres of land owned by USC's partner Palmetto Health Richland, according to The State.
The development, across the street from the Palmetto Health Richland campus, will house a new School of Medicine for the Columbia campus. According to a release from the university, the campus will be constructed in "two phases." A new $80 million medical school will be built in the first phase, and an additional $120 million research building would be constructed later.
USC's Chief Operating Officer Ed Walton touted the location near Palmetto Health in downtown Columbia as a strength.
"A modern, efficient facility, located closer to the University's clinical partners in Columbia, is a more effective long-term teaching and research location and a more cost effective facility to own and operate," Ed Walton said in the university's press release.
Reports on Thursday said the university's rent for its current facility would steadily increase in coming years if the university maintained its lease.
USC plans to ask for "significant capital investment" from the state government to finance the first phase of the project. State legislators shot down an attempt to get $50 million in state funding for a similar project earlier this year.
University President Harris Pastides echoed the themes of his State of the University address when praising the project.
"This is what it means to be a 21st century university: developing arenas of excellence that meet the interests and employability demands of students and parents while meeting the economic demands of the state,” he said in a release.
The project is projected to bring in an $180 million annual economic impact once up and running while generating $9 million in tax revenue.
The board also approved a new $50 million dollar football operations center and a new sculpture for outside of Williams-Brice Stadium, according to The State. The statue will be funded by gifts.