UNMC will break ground today on a $74 million research tower, the second such tower to be built at the Omaha campus this decade.
The ceremonial groundbreaking will begin at 10:30 a.m. It will honor the principal donor to the two towers, legendary Omaha businessman Chuck Durham, president and CEO of Durham Resources. A campus reception will follow the groundbreaking ceremony.
“No one has embraced our research vision more than Chuck Durham. It’s appropriate to recognize his unmatched contributions to our research enterprise as we mark this milestone,” UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said.
The 10-level facility, presently being called the Research Center of Excellence II, will be nearly identical to the Durham Research Center, which opened in 2003. It will contain 252,179 gross square feet with 98 state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as office space for investigators and laboratory support space.
It will be located only a few yards south of the Durham Research Center on the northwest corner of Durham Research Plaza (formerly 45th Street) and Emile Street. The two research towers will be connected with a covered passageway.
Funding for the $74 million facility will come largely through private support, with Durham providing the lead gift. In addition, the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan to appropriate $12 million in non-state general fund resources. The state support is intended primarily to construct bioterrorism preparedness laboratories within the RCE II. Other support could include federal monies.
Tuesday’s ceremony will include remarks from several elected and university dignitaries, including Gov. Dave Heineman, U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel and Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey. Heineman and Fahey plan to officially proclaim Tuesday as “Chuck Durham Day” in Nebraska and Omaha, respectively.
Other speakers will include Jim McClurg, Ph.D., chairman of the NU Board of Regents; James B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska; Terry Fairfield, chief executive officer of the University of Nebraska Foundation; Walter Scott, chairman emeritus of Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc.; a member of the Durham family; Gail Walling Yanney, M.D., board member of The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC’s hospital partner; and Lucile Wrenshall, M.D., Ph.D., a UNMC faculty member and transplant surgeon.