$500-million expansion to quadruple vet school

RALEIGH, N.C. — A 20-year, $500 million project kicks off at North Carolina State University (NC State) in November with groundbreaking for a $12 million research building and subsequent construction of a 115,000-square-foot animal hospital.

Projected view of the NC State's Centennial Biomedical Campus, Campus sprawl: Master plans for growth at North Carolina State University call for 1.5-million square feet of space designated for animal-health- and veterinary-related initiatives. Beginning stages of the 20-year project are underway.

The long-range projects aren't designed to increase the veterinary school's 81-seat maximum. Instead, the expansive Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Center, or Terry Center, and roughly 25 future buildings proposed to join it will complete the Centennial Biomedical Campus. The move is designed to encourage private and government researchers as well as pharmaceutical companies to set up shop on the university's Raleigh campus.

The Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Hospital is a separate but related project. Funding for the $72-million hospital hinges on a combination of private dollars and state support from North Carolina's general budget. Lawmakers were debating the allocation at press time.

The new hospital is needed to service the area's growing animal population and expand the college's clinical research programs, officials say. Projected plans double the size of the current veterinary teaching hospital. Officials anticipate the new facility eventually will accommodate 25,000 cases annually.

The Terry Center, in turn, will facilitate private partnerships needed to boost educational growth and idea brainstorming at NC State, officials say.

Anchored by the veterinary school, master plans show the entire project eventually would cover 1.5 million square feet, although university officials insist the initiative will grow per market demands for leased space.