For now, it is a big empty lot, dotted with small trees and the crushed red brick and concrete dust of former housing units. But in two years, it will be a $112 million, five-story home for the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry and it will live up to its billing, Dean Connie Drisko promised Wednesday.
"It will wow you," she told a crowd of about 500 students, faculty and community leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony.
Whether it will stand alone or be part of a complex that includes a new building for the School of Medicine is an open question for some officials but not for others.
There was a lot of credit being tossed around for getting the dental school building to this point -- the city of Augusta for providing $10 million to purchase the former Gilbert Manor site and the Augusta Housing Authority for being willing to give it up. Legislators were praised for appropriating $5 million in planning money and $97 million in bonds to fund the construction, with about $7.5 million in private donations and more fundraising still under way.
The building, projected to open for fall 2011, will allow the school's class size to expand from 63 to 100. That figure boggled the mind of periodontist Judson S. Hickey, son of the school's first dean and a 1980 graduate in a class that barely topped 50.
"I can't imagine that," he said. "But Georgia does need the dentists. It's really going to be great for the state."
The state lags in the number of dentists per 100,000, with 41.4 compared to a national average of 54.3, University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. said. The new building is "a critical piece of infrastructure for the state of Georgia," he said.
Part of the problem stems from the state's growth -- despite the economic downturn, Georgia is facing its second decade of nearly 25 percent growth, Gov. Sonny Perdue said.
"How can a state with only one dental school keep up if we don't grow?" he asked.
The state also lags in the number of physicians, and MCG is committed to expansion of the School of Medicine, including a satellite campus in Athens in conjunction with the University of Georgia. But Mr. Perdue was circumspect about the state's commitment to build a new School of Medicine building that would allow its class size to increase from 190 to 240 in Augusta.
"I think the vision is there from the Board of Regents," he said. "Obviously, sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And right now the flesh in the form of revenue is extremely weak. But just like this facility represents a long-term view, we'll take a long-term view on the health needs overall in the state."
Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was emphatic that it would get built, including a medical education commons that will be shared by both schools.
"MCG will be the health sciences university for the state of Georgia," he said. "And it will be in Augusta. And those buildings will be coming. That's just the way it is going to be."
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
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