District IV Community Connections: New addition to Coleman College for Health Sciences
Feb 5, 2014
Houston Community College’s Coleman College for Health Sciences will soon add to the growing educational opportunities in the healthcare fields in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center. Plans for a new state-of-the-art educational building, which will be located on 1.25 acres across the street from the existing John B. Coleman building at 1900 Pressler Street, are progressing with an anticipated completion date in early 2017.
With the new facility, Coleman College will be able to expand its health sciences training programs, providing the Greater Houston Area, and especially the Texas Medical Center, with the specialized medical science and technical workforce it needs.
“Coleman College for Health Sciences, under the leadership of President Betty Young, has become an invaluable institution within the Texas Medical Center,” says Robert C. Robbins, M.D., President and CEO of the Texas Medical Center. “Each year, it graduates an exceptionally well-trained workforce that advances the excellent clinical care and research discovery found throughout the Texas Medical Center.”
The new building will be 297,920 gross square feet of new classroom and clinical instruction space. It will also include lab spaces, classroom spaces, an auditorium/multipurpose room, student areas, faculty areas, reception, administrative offices, a bookstore, a food court and a student services center.
The new HCC Coleman building is part of HCC’s Groundbreaker Bond Program, which begins in 2014, consisting of 14 projects across its six colleges, and includes an aggressive small-business engagement program. That program, GameChanger, has a goal of awarding 35 percent of bond construction work to small-business enterprises (SBEs). HCC and Jacobs Program Management Co. held an inaugural networking event January 25 for potential prime contractors and SBEs interested in construction projects for HCC’s $425 million bond program.
The selection process is well under way for Groundbreaker’s prime contractors, who will be responsible for the day-to-day construction oversight for all 14 projects. The designated prime contractors, acting as Construction Managers At Risk (CMARs), will be announced in February. Jacobs, the firm selected as the program manager for HCC’s Groundbreaker Bond Program, will supervise all construction projects for the capital improvement plan.
“The Groundbreaker Bond Program is a substantial capital improvement project for HCC and Houston as a whole, and that means there’s a lot of economic opportunity available for SBEs that want to be part of the construction efforts,” says Winston Dahse, HCC Chief Facilities Officer.
The Coleman College expansion is budgeted for $120 million of the $425 million bond program.