Covenant Health is donating about 10 acres of land for Roane State Community College’s new $75 million regional health science training center in west Knox County.
The Knox Regional Health Science and Simulation Center will be along Sherill Boulevard, across the street from Parkwest Medical Center. That hospital and medical center is near the intersection of Interstate 40 and Pellissippi Parkway (State Route 162).
Officials from Roane State Community College, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Knoxville, and Covenant Health will celebrate the land transfer on Friday.
The new center was announced in early 2022. Roane State said project construction is expected to begin later this year.
Roane State said Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s 2022-23 budget proposal included a request for $67.5 million in state funding for the Knox Regional Health Science and Simulation Center.
“The facility will enable instructors to provide comprehensive simulations of the work students will be doing when they graduate, in settings similar to clinics and hospitals,” the college said.
The project had previously been approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents, the governing body for both Roane State and TCAT Knoxville. It was then recommended by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission for inclusion in the budget request, Roane State said.
Roane State is expected to provide at least a $7.5 million campus match. The total estimated dollar amount for the project is $75 million, which includes previous funding of $1 million appropriated in fiscal year 2021-22 for the preliminary design phase.
The center is meant to replace Roane State’s current Knox County Center for Health Sciences, a 16,000-square-foot campus located at 132 Hayfield Road in West Knoxville. It will also be the new home of TCAT Knoxville’s health science programs, Roane State said.
As proposed, the Knox Regional Health Science and Simulation Center would have 130,000 square feet in total, with at least 11,000 square feet devoted to the simulation center.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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