UAB to spend about $500 million on renovations, new facilities

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - If you’ve been on UAB’s campus lately, you might have noticed plenty of construction going on.

Nine new facilities are transforming the campus.

Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for UAB, Dr. Brian Burnett, joked that the construction crane is the unofficial bird for UAB.

That’s because several new facilities and renovations are happening all over campus including an update to the Unity Park green space, seven new buildings and a new parking deck.

Dr. Burnett said a $76 million science and engineering complex is nearing completion and will be ready to welcome students this fall.

UAB also broke ground a nearly $157 million new inpatient rehabilitation facility that will replace the existing Spain Rehabilitation Center. That’s expected to open in 2025.

And a new $36 million parking deck will house 1,200 spaces that is going up next door to the new Cooper Green outpatient clinic.

That’s only a few of the new facilities in the works, but Dr. Burnett said these investments support UAB’s mission to serve the entire community and beyond.

“The research we do for not just our state, but our country… we have investments going that support all of those missions. It makes UAB a more competitive academic institution, it makes UAB a better clinical enterprise with our hospital and health system and these investments continue to partner with our community in very important ways,” Dr. Burnett explained.

Dr. Burnett said altogether, there’s about $500 million in projects underway at UAB with public, private, state, federal and local money funding these projects.

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