Click here for an interactive look at the UNMC proposal.
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The University of Nebraska Medical Center's chancellor expressed no doubt Wednesday that he and others would raise the $370 million required to build a cancer center on the west side of the campus.
"We're 100 percent confident we're going to pull this off," Chancellor Harold Maurer said of what would be the largest building project ever done on that campus.
The $370 million would enable UNMC and its hospital partner to build a research tower, inpatient center and outpatient building, all dedicated to cancer, plus a non-emergency clinic that wouldn't be cancer-related.
The money is expected to come from at least three sources. The university is requesting $50 million from the state at a time when Gov. Dave Heineman has said he wants to cut taxes.
NU President J.B. Milliken said Wednesday at a press conference that if the state funding didn't come through this legislative session, construction on the UNMC project could be done in stages, beginning with other sources of money.
Some $200 million in private money is expected for the project, and the Nebraska Medical Center plans to incur $120 million in debt. It would pay off the debt over time with hospital revenues.
Maurer and Milliken declined to say how much private money has been raised already. Milliken described it as "a significant amount."
The press packet for the project included statements of endorsement from such Omaha business leaders as Walter Scott Jr. and Michael Yanney, who have contributed to various civic projects in the past. Neither statement guaranteed contributions from those individuals.
The UNMC initiative is the main component of an NU legislative proposal that includes a $17 million nursing facility in Lincoln, a $19 million health care training facility based at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and $5 million to plan a veterinary diagnostic center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An NU spokeswoman said the multicampus proposal is the only capital request the university has before the Legislature this year.
Still, the $91 million from the state's cash reserve fund for the four NU projects may face a challenge in a time when tax cuts are being advocated by many, including the governor.
Nebraska Medical Center President Glenn Fosdick said now is the time to build the cancer complex, because some other states are adding to their cancer facilities, and the med center needs to stay competitive. But some states are struggling, he said, and UNMC has succeeded in recruiting cancer specialists from those states.
"I think the state's support is very important," Fosdick said. "It's the kind of investment that there's a great return on."
Maurer said about 50 percent of UNMC's research grant money is for cancer research, and about 50 percent of the hospital's revenue is from cancer treatment.
Maurer said the Omaha project would require a year to 18 months of additional planning, with construction concluding four years from now.
The cancer complex would include a $110 million cancer research tower; a $63 million, 108-bed inpatient cancer center; and a $150 million outpatient cancer center. The construction project also would include a $47 million ambulatory, or non-emergency, care center at 42nd and Farnam Streets.
The cancer complex would add to a building boom that has taken place at UNMC over the past decade. The growth has included two research towers, a medical education building, a center for nursing and other facilities.
The complex would go up between the Durham Outpatient Center and the two Durham research towers. Swanson Hall and the Durham Outpatient Center parking garage would be razed and an underground parking garage would replace the lost parking spots.
A portion of what is now Swanson Hall opened in 1948 as Children's Memorial Hospital, said UNMC historian John Schleicher. Another section was added in the early 1960s. Children's Hospital eventually moved west and the building became the Swanson Center for Human Nutrition. The building currently houses various offices.
Fosdick said the med center has a good reputation among cancer experts. People came to the campus last year from all 50 states and 42 countries for cancer care, Fosdick said.
Fosdick said the National Cancer Institute, which controls federal funding for cancer research, designates the med center as a "clinical cancer center" but not as one of the 40 more prestigious "comprehensive cancer centers." The proposed complex and its research component should enable the med center to attain the more prestigious designation, the administrators said.
Maurer said the complex would generate 1,200 jobs for physicians, researchers and other staffers.
Dr. Kenneth Cowan, director of UNMC's Eppley Cancer Center, said the complex would enable cancer researchers and cancer physicians to work more closely with each other. The outpatient clinic would place under one roof cancer specialists, radiation experts, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and physical therapists who see cancer patients, Cowan said. Patients no longer would have to shuttle around the campus, he said, to get different parts of their cancer care.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com
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