Southern Illinois University Edwardsville completes new $117M health sciences complex
By Will Bauer | St. Louis Public Radio | April 28, 2026 at 3:49 p.m. CDT
The renovation and construction of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s new $117.4 million health sciences building has been completed, the university said Tuesday.
The more than 172,000-square-foot facility, which will hold both pharmacy and nursing schools, will provide new classrooms, laboratories, study areas and administrative offices.
“The advanced technology that the Health Sciences Complex provides as a facility complements the experience and enthusiasm of the faculty providing top experiential learning in the nursing and pharmacy programs,” SIUE Chancellor James Minor said in a statement. “These state-of-the-art classrooms prepare student practitioners to walk confidently into their next assignment as healthcare professionals.”
After being delayed by the pandemic, construction started in 2023. The first students began classes in the facility last fall. SIUE officials initially put the cost at $105 million in 2023. However, pandemic-era inflation led to the project increasing in cost.
Funding for the project came from Rebuild Illinois, the $25.4 billion legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2019 for infrastructure and construction projects all over the state.
SIUE’s nursing school saw its largest growth at the start of the current academic year, and the pharmacy school also saw its biggest class ever. The new health sciences facility drove that growth, according to the university.
