UTHeath San Antonio aims for $300M expansion

UT Health San Antonio is planning even more expansions to its new Multispecialty and Research Hospital campus, which has already cost $470 million.

The first addition would be a new Center for Brain Health — a $100 million investment that would take two years to build. The building is set to replace the campus’ surface parking. Should the project materialize, UT Health plans to build a 500-space parking deck for another $20 million.

On top of that, the San Antonio Business Journal reports that UT Health President Dr. William Henrich is planning to meet with the University of Texas System Board of Regents about the prospects of adding a new research building.

Henrich projects construction of the new research facility to cost between $100 million and $120 million, and it would go up right next to UT Health San Antonio’s Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies. He also plans to develop a vivarium animal habitat at the Barshop Institute — an estimated $10 million project.

The full scope of those two projects is not yet clear, but Henrich says they’re needed, because the campus’ older facilities are nearing capacity. One of the more immediate planned projects is a new $50 million central energy plant that will provide the entire UT Health San Antonio campus with reliable power.

“With our prodigious research growth, it’s important that get that established,” Henrich said. “It’s likely, given our growth, that there will be additional research space needs that will extend far beyond this.”

In total, the additional expansions will cost upwards of $300 million, according to SABJ. However, funding these ambitious projects has not yet been secured.

“We have a number of highly meritorious causes that are very much dependent on philanthropy,” Henrich says.

— Maddy Sperling