So I'd like to dispel/clarify any confusion about this expansion. The Bioscience Connecticut project is roughly a $1.2 billion investment for economic growth in Connecticut. With this money, UConn attracted Jackson Laboratories to build a state of the art lab right next to the medical school, which will have a focus on personalized medicine and genomics. As a med student, this probably won't affect you much but will greatly expand the research endeavors of the university. Furthermore, a new outpatient facility called the UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion ($200 million, 300,000 sq ft) will immensely expand clinical space because specialties like opthalmology, rheumatology, cardiology, etc. will all have brand new spaces. Construction here is well underway and I think will be seeing patients in January of 2015. If you have been on campus recently, its the new building with green, glass windows. In addition, John Dempsey Hospital which currently only occupies a small corner of the UCHC building will be relocated to the new hospital tower, which broke ground several months ago. The number of beds will not increase but the physicsl size and emergency department will because they are transitioning to single bed rooms. Finally, the academic facilities are getting a major overhaul. Approximately 300,000 sq ft of new academic space will be built (for instance, the round about in front of the academic entrance is having an auditorium built on top of it.) New multipurpose rooms are being built to accommodate a more, small group learning environment. Many offices are being shuffled around, labs are getting a makeover.
