The Houston Business Journal reported UTHealth has started work on a 10-story, 350,000-square-foot tower. It hopes the facility will help advance the school’s mission of pursuing health promotion and disease prevention, creating sustainable access to affordable health care and training the next generation of leaders in public health sciences. It will go in at the Helix Park Campus.

The $299 million building will house research laboratories with distance-learning technology, an auditorium, a teaching kitchen for dietetic interns, collaborative spaces, and classrooms focusing on epidemiology, genetics, nutrition, health policy, data science and health promotion. 

UTHealth tapped Houston-based Kirksey Architecture to design the project in collaboration with Detroit, Michigan-based SmithGroup. Houston-based Vaughn Construction is serving as general contractor for the project. 

The new facility is scheduled to open in time for the fall semester in 2026.