State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, provided an update April 25 on his "10 goals in 10 years plan" to build a medical school in Austin at a monthly meeting of the Urban Land Institute.

Watson spoke as part of a panel with Clarke Heidrick, board member of Travis County's health care taxing authority, Central Health, and chairman of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. They both emphasized the need for a medical school since Austin not only has a rapidly growing population, but is one of the largest cities in the nation not to have one.

"I've never understood why we don't have a medical school," Watson said. "We need to have a 21st-century teaching hospital."

The location of the medical school has been a point of curiosity since Watson announced his plan last fall. While he said no decision has been made, he referred to a couple of possibilities, including The University of Texas campus, the Mueller redevelopment near Airport Boulevard and Waterloo Park.

"Behind the nursing school [on the UT campus], there are some very expensive tennis courts," he joked.

Watson also spoke at length about the importance of public-private partnerships as a new "community-based" model to fund things such as a new teaching hospital—which is also part of his plan—and the new medical school.

Further, he mentioned the recent agreement between Central Health and Seton Healthcare Family—which committed $250 million for a new teaching hospital to replace the outdated University Medical Center Brackenridge located downtown at 601 E. 15th St.

"We need to do something with it," he said. "We need to keep it up. If you want to affiliate with a first-class medical school, something has to happen."

Under the agreement, Seton will pay for facility upkeep while Central Health, which owns the land, has pledged to try and secure federal dollars to help update UMBC.

Heidrick said Ascension Health, which oversees Seton, still must approve the agreement, and a vote is expected in the fall.

Watson said between now and September will be a key time to make more progress on his plan.

"The progress since last fall is enormous," he said. "I foresee more over the summer."