UT board of regents to vote on medical school plan

The University of Texas board of regents is scheduled to vote on a $334 million plan for the new Dell Medical School at UT Austin on May 9.

UT president Bill Powers has proposed a $334 million plan to build research, educational and administrative buildings, as well as a 515,000-square-foot medical office building and parking garage, according to a news release.

The educational building and classrooms may be built on the current site of a parking lot across from University Medical Center Brackenridge. A new teaching hospital and research facility are planned for the area.

The new medical school campus would be located in an area bordered by I-35, Trinity and 15th streets and Martin Luther King Boulevard. The school building where classes take place may be built on the site of a parking lot across the street from UMCB, according to the university.

The plan was approved by the board of regents' Academic Affairs Committee on May 8.

If approved, the project would be financed by revenue bonds issued by UT, backed by funding from the UT system and the available university fund, which is part of the state's $19 billion endowment for UT and Texas A&M schools, according to a news release. The board of regents also has committed an additional $25 million a year for operating the medical school.

The school is expected to open in 2016.