The University of Illinois System is gaining close to three acres of land to expand the College of Medicine in Peoria (UICOMP).
The 2.97-acre plot at 411 Martin Luther King Junior Drive is next to the UICOMP campus. It will be bought for $500,000 from real estate developer Wald/Land Corp. The site once housed the Bob Michel VA Outpatient Clinic, which moved in 2011.
“We’re very excited about acquiring this property and the future opportunities it provides for the College of Medicine and downtown Peoria,” UICOMP Regional Dean Sara Rusch said.
Two parking lots on the property will provide a total of 145 parking spaces, to be used by 55 first-year medical students and 20 faculty and staff next fall. UICOMP is the largest public medical school in the U.S.
Next fall’s student expansion happens due to a phasing out of another medical school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The changes will increase UICOMP’s enrollment.
The land purchase was approved by the Board of Trustees Executive Committee during a special meeting.
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