The Indiana University Board of Trustees gave final approval for the IU medical school in Downtown Evansville on Friday, and also released new renderings of the facility.
"We're getting close," said Pat Shoulders, an IU trustee and Evansville attorney. "The only thing between right now and the groundbreaking is the final legislative meeting."
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said he's excited by the IU Board of Trustees' approval.
"Today is an important step, which clears the path for the project to now go to the state budget committee," Winnecke said.
The committee will meet Oct. 12 to decide whether to release the funds for the projects. The Indiana Legislature approved $25.2 million in the state budget for the IU and University of Southern Indiana portions of the medical campus earlier this year.
The University of Evansville, a private institution, is contributing $6 million of its own money. The City Council has approved a $57 million bond for the campus and related development.
Winnecke said he doesn't see any reason the state budget committee wouldn't release the funds.
"Our local delegation did a great job in convincing their colleagues around the state to make this appropriation; the leaderships in both chambers support it, the governor supports it," he said. "It's a bipartisan project so I don't see any reason why the money shouldn't be released in October, which would clear the path for a groundbreaking in October."
The campus is a partnership among the IU School of Medicine, University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville. Ivy Tech Community College intended to move health classes to the campus, but did not receive state funding to do so. Shoulders said Ivy Tech is "still part of the planning process."
IU trustees picked the Downtown location in April 2014. Shoulders said if the state budget committee releases the funds, the groundbreaking will likely take place in the second part of October.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education approved the Downtown project Thursday. Shoulders said the IU Board of Trustees and the commission approvals are two of the three final administrative steps to get the ball rolling on the project.
"We're pushing the ball down the field," he said. "Everything that could be needed for approval (by IU) is now done."
The Downtown site covers almost six square blocks. The IU Board of Trustees also approved the medical campus's building designs Friday. The site's boundaries include Locust, Cherry, Southeast Fourth and Southeast Sixth streets. The building will feature classrooms, an amphitheater and a simulation center.
The project is planned be 149,000 square feet, with the IU portion to be about 87,000 square feet. The medical school's completion date is tentatively set for December 2017, according to the design summary.
"Everyone realizes this is more than an economic boost to the city," Winnecke said. "It's really an important change in how medical education proceeds in Indiana. A lot of cities in Indiana, like a lot of states, have seen a growing shortage in the health care professionals. So the fact that there's a collaborative effort on the educational front and on the medical front is really important."