The University of Texas System Board of Regents last week approved $334.5 million of university revenue bonds to build the planned Dell Medical School in Austin.
Bond proceeds will fund academic, research, and medical office buildings, and a, 1,000-space parking garage at the complex near the main UT campus.
The complex will include a $250 million teaching hospital built by Seton Healthcare Family. Seton will own the hospital, which will be operated by Central Health, the Travis County hospital district.
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has pledged $50 million to the facility.
“This will put UT-Austin in the top 10 public and private universities in the nation,” said executive vice chancellor Pedro Reyes. “This is a dream come true in many ways.”
Travis County voters in November 2012 approved a property tax increase by the hospital district to provide $35 million a year to the medical school for care of indigent patients.
Other funding includes the University of Texas’s pledge of $40 million for equipment over the first eight years of operation, and $25 million a year for operational costs.
The school’s first class of 50 students is expected in fall 2016.
It will be built near the Erwin Center basketball arena, which eventually will be moved to accommodate growth at the medical school.
Tentative plans for later phases include additional academic and research facilities, another medical office building, a cancer center, and a 120-bed psychiatric hospital.
Regents approved the medical school plan in May 2012, contingent upon the local support. The proposal must be approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. It does not require the consent of the Legislature.
