Forest Park’s new health building sees steel
BY: TANIA ROBIN
Staff Writer
St. Louis community college at Forest Park has a new addition to their campus grounds, a large skeleton of their to be new Health Science Center.
The $39 million Health and Sciences facility is anticipated to open its doors to students and faculty in fall of 2019.
In a recent interview on St. Louis National Public Radio, Chancellor Jeff Pittman of STLCC said, “The goal of the new facility is not only to create more space for students but also to address the health care shortages in the St. Louis region.”
Each year, the number of enrollees for classes in the medical field decreases, and the need for trained medical personnel increases. Demand is higher than ever for people in professions like nursing, lab technicians, and EMTs.
“Particularly, the hospitals are having a difficult time finding a skilled workforce,” said Pittman.
This is one of the major reasons for the new construction project that is happening on Forest Park’s campus.
Chancellor Pittman also added, “The concept and the vision behind this building was to be able to expand our capacity, to be able to be a better partner with the area health care providers, and to be able to meet their workforce needs.”
In the fall of 2016, at a board of trustees meeting, the discussion of a new healthcare building was being addressed to school officials, faculty, students and the public.
The presenters showed slides of what the proposed building would look like and where the new building would be built on the Forest Park campus. [The board of trustees] voted to approve the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences.
The school decided to erect the new structure close to the highway in order to gain more attention and attraction toward the school. Some faculty and voting members of that meeting hope to also increase enrollment through increasing advertising in this way, by using the large state-of-the-art building for visual appeal.
It has been 20 years since the campus has built any new structures.
In March of 2018, Forest Park had its groundbreaking ceremony for the new construction. The following April, the new building construction commenced.
STLCC projects that the new building, named ‘the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences’, will be operational for the fall semester of 2019, when it is expected to be open for all students and faculty to use.
The Healthcare Center will cover 96,000 square feet and consist of four floors. The building will include a dental clinic, modern science labs and classrooms, teaching areas, innovative space, and natural lighting.
Two companies are working together on this project, Kai Design & Build and Tarlton Corporation (a certified women’s business enterprise, who are leading the construction). Both are businesses established and based in St. Louis.
Because of the gravity of such an event for the St. Louis Community College community, construction of the building is accessible for anyone to live stream throughout its progression. 
