USC to meet with potential contractors on $300M Bull Street health sciences campus

The University of South Carolina is set to meet Wednesday with potential contractors to build a $300 million medical facilities project that has the potential to reshape downtown Columbia.

It’s a step forward for the long-anticipated new Health Sciences Campus that’s projected to occupy 16-20 acres on Harden Street in the BullStreet District, according to a request for qualifications issued Sept. 2.

The conference is open to companies and contractors, and USC does not know in advance who will attend, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said in an email.

USC wants to erect new Health Sciences buildings because its current building, the former Veterans Affairs hospital on Garners Ferry, is 89 years old, and the federal government will raise the annual rent for the builoding from a dollar to $7.5 million starting in 2030, the State reported previously.

The campus will house USC’s School of Medicine as well as research into areas such as surgery, neuroscience, microbiology, immunology and more.

The project has been in the works for the better part of a decade. In September 2016, USC’s board of trustees approved the construction of the campus. Since then, USC has sought funding from the General Assembly to defray moving costs. In the most recent state fiscal budget, USC received $10 million to relocate the medical school.

Though this is a step forward for the project, it will be years before ground is broken. USC projects it will approve the phase 1 design agreement in June 2022, break ground in November 2024 and complete the project in mid-late 2026, according to the request for qualifications.

In 2016, the project was projected to cost $200 million. The request for qualification, published earlier this month, now estimates the cost at $300 million.

Requests for qualifications responses are due Oct. 20.

— Joe Bustos contributed to this article.

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 2:13 PM.