$189 Million UWM Project Would Redevelop Former Columbia Hospital
Gov. Evers backs funding project to relocate, expand health sciences programs.
Northwest Quadrant (former Columbia Hospital) at UW-Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
A nearly $200 million project on UW-Milwaukee’s East Side campus would allow for the education of more health sciences professionals to meet growing demand. It would also provide an anchor tenant for a former hospital the university purchased 15 years ago.
UWM is proposing to relocate its health services programs from five buildings to one consolidated location in its Northwestern Quadrant, a one-million-square-foot former hospital complex.
The project would allow the university to train an additional 300 students annually on top of the 2,000 already served.
Governor Tony Evers included $189.3 million in his $4.1 billion, 2025-2027 capital budget to renovate the 307,000-square-foot facility. The proposal is still subject to legislative review.
“These investments are critical to not only address our state’s aging infrastructure but build for our state’s future, whether it’s at our UW System, supporting our veterans, protecting our valuable natural resources, or modernizing our correctional institutions to improve community safety across our state,” said Evers in a statement Monday. “We can’t afford to kick the can down the road on key infrastructure projects across our state, most especially as the cost of building materials may only get more expensive with each day of delay due to potential tariff taxes and trade wars.”
The health services project was identified as UWM’s top ask of state officials in the 2023-2025 and 2025-2027 budget cycles.
“This project will enhance our ability to educate and train the next generation of skilled healthcare professionals, addressing the growing need for a well-prepared workforce across the state,” said the university in a statement. “The project will transform the Northwest Quad Complex into a cutting-edge, interdisciplinary Health Sciences hub. It will unify programs currently scattered across five buildings, expand instructional labs, and enhance hands-on, collaborative learning in high-demand fields such as physical therapy, biomedical sciences and occupational therapy.”
The project would provide the degree programs with purpose-built classrooms and labs in a central location. In a 2023 video of faculty members currently spread across campus, the current state of repurposed classrooms is identified as a key shortcoming.
Twenty degree programs, ranging from athletic training to radiological technology, would be included in the move. The university reports the programs have a combined 98% job placement rate and saw enrollment double between 2000 and 2012.
The effort is still subject to political whims and a larger debate about funding the university system. The $4.1 billion capital budget is subject to approval from the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature. In recent budgets, the Legislature has substantially cut Evers’ proposed capital allocations.
But the state has already provided millions in funding for the effort.
In 2023, the state allocated $5 million for the preliminary design of the project. Kahler Slater was hired to lead the design effort.
The state has previously provided UWM at least $52 million to redevelop the former hospital complex. A 2022 fact sheet says, in total, $96.4 million has been invested in the hospital complex.
UWM purchased the former Columbia Hospital in 2010 for $20.2 million. Columbia, now part of Ascension, was shuttered in the 1990s as part of expanding the Columbia St. Mary’s campus along E. North Avenue. Much of the hospital has been vacant since UWM’s acquisition as the university has worked to redevelop it in phases.
The health sciences programs would move into portions of Building B, C and D, located along E. Hartford Avenue near N. Cramer Street.
Prior funding supported window replacement and facade repair, the addition of a new entrance to Building B, construction of a nursing simulation center, the renovation of Building D for the School of Information Studies and its Student Health and Wellness Center and the once-controversial demolition of Building A, the oldest portion, for green space.
The latest project, according to the capital budget, would involve “removing the old hospital patient rooms, treatment rooms, and clinic space; replacing old and deficient building infrastructure including all architectural, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, and plumbing systems; and installing new insulation on the exterior envelope.”
Following the completion of the project, UWM would retain the children’s learning center, the nursing simulator and a greenhouse in Building B. The university’s IT department would relocate within the complex.
The university, according to a project website and budget request, anticipates using space that becomes available after the health sciences programs relocate for future projects.
Renderings
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