The South Carolina’s Board of Trustees Friday (Oct. 25) unveiled two major projects , advanced multiple institutional projects, and approved a number of contracts and agreements.
New hospital plans unveiled, other facilities projects approved
USC is embarking on a first-of-its-kind hospital in the state and took the first step to realizing it during the board meeting.
The board approved the developing of a medical center that will house South Carolina’s first hospital dedicated entirely to brain and nervous system care.
The hospital will have approximately 120 beds and offer advanced neurosurgery, treatments and rehabilitation for trauma, stroke, cancer and dementia-related conditions. It will sit on USC’s Health Sciences Campus at the BullStreet District.
Plans for the Health Sciences Campus also include a new state-of-the-art medical school as well as a Brain Health Center.
“As USC expands its efforts to provide the highest quality medical education to South Carolina students and serve the state’s health care needs, building a single location for neurological treatment and rehabilitation is a vital next step,” President Michael D. Amiridis said. “This is a tremendous opportunity to address a critical gap in health care for brain-related conditions, not only for our state, but for the entire Southeast.”
The Board of Trustees also advanced a handful of large institutional projects, including some as part of the USC Next master plan:
- Renovations for the School of Music’s Greene Street United Methodist Church.
- Elevator modernization at the Wellness and Fitness Center.
- Third-floor renovations at the Russell House.
- Hubbard Hall renovations at USC Lancaster for the nursing program.
The renovations to the United Methodist Church will focus on reconfiguring the Parsonage House for practice rooms, faculty studios and a small classroom. The Russell House project will renovate approximately 6,000 square feet of the third floor to expand student life and create more open student gathering spaces and meeting spaces.
The orientation department and intersection lounge will be relocated as part of the renovation.
Williams-Brice renovations take the next step
USC athletics also took a major step forward on its renovations to Williams-Brice Stadium with the Board of Trustees approving Phase I for the stadium development project.
The approval allows the athletics department to begin the Request for Proposal (RFP) process to retain an architecture firm and begin the initial design phase to transform the football stadium.
The project will focus initially on enhancing the fan experience with plans to add more premium suites. The plan is to complete construction prior to the 2027 football season.
“Today is a significant day for our institution and I hope it is the beginning of many big milestones ahead as we realize this incredibly transformative vision that would have an impact on all areas of our university and the region,” said Thad Westbrook, Board of Trustees chair.
Ray Tanner field, other contracts approved
The board also approved a gift agreement to name the baseball field after legendary coach and current Athletics Director Ray Tanner. It becomes Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park, honoring the program’s best baseball coach.
Tanner helped the Gamecocks reach the ultimate heights over 16 seasons in the dugout, going 738-316 in Columbia with six trips to the College World Series and two national championships.
He won three SEC regular season titles, six SEC East titles and one tournament championship.
The board also approved a gift agreement for the College of Education. There were four other contracts and agreements approved by the board Friday outside of the two gift agreements:
- Two services agreements with the Division of Information and Technology: one with HelioCampus Inc. and another with IBM.
- An academic collaboration agreement between the Arnold School of Public Health and Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
- An agreement between the Finance and Administration department with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.