Tuesday, May 17, 2016 | 3:23 p.m.
Future medical students attending the UNLV School of Medicine most likely will be training and learning in the heart of the Las Vegas Medical District.
The Clark County Commission today approved a resolution of intent to transfer land to the Nevada System of Higher Education to build the forthcoming medical school’s teaching facility.
The 9.11 acres of land are at 625 Shadow Lane, a former Southern Nevada Health District site across the street from University Medical Center and Valley Hospital.
Officials lauded what they’re calling a “historic partnership” among Clark County, UNLV and University Medical Center.
The land conveyance sets the stage for the county-run hospital, which is already an academic medical center, to grow and help provide training, residency, fellowship and research to the UNLV medical students.
“Having the UNLV medical school on this land and building a state-of-the-art training facility will certainly raise the level of health care in the state,” UMC CEO Mason VanHouweling told the commissioners.
The land transfer and partnership must be approved by the involved parties’ boards prior to public comment and a final vote by the commission on June 21.
The transfer agreement stipulates that NSHE will pay half or $500,000 — whichever is less — of what it costs the county to demolish buildings currently on the site.
Dr. Barbara Atkinson, founding dean of the UNLV School of Medicine, said the university has raised enough money to begin architectural review and site development. That will result in architectural renderings of the proposed building, which university officials can show to prospective donors, she said.
University officials have estimated the 100,000- to 150,000-square-foot educational building will cost as much as $100 million.
Atkinson said she was hopeful the medical school would soon raise enough money to fund construction of the building, which may house students studying nursing, physical therapy and other health-related fields, in addition to the medical students.
Per the deed, NSHE has until July 1, 2021, to begin construction of the medical education building.
The UNLV School of Medicine hopes to admit its first batch of students this fall and start classes in the summer of 2017.
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