April 7, 2016 | Christopher DeFrancesco

Economics of the New Hospital Tower

As UConn Health nears the milestone of opening the new hospital tower, the centerpiece of the Bioscience Connecticut capital projects, another major milestone has been surpassed. More than 5,000 construction jobs have now been created on the UConn Health campus

Construction work continues on the UConn Health campus. (Photo by Janine Gelineau)

Construction work continues on the UConn Health campus. (Photo by Janine Gelineau)

As UConn Health nears the milestone of opening the new hospital tower, the centerpiece of the Bioscience Connecticut capital projects, another major milestone has been surpassed.

Work being done on the new patient tower at UConn John Dempsey Hospital. (Photo courtesy Tom Trutter).
Work being done on the new patient tower at UConn John Dempsey Hospital. (Photo courtesy Tom Trutter).

More than 5,000 construction jobs have now been created on the UConn Health campus as a result of Bioscience Connecticut, an $864 million package of investments in UConn Health and other area hospitals introduced by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in 2011. It was Malloy’s vision to grow the region into a destination for biomedical research and health care and create thousands of jobs in the process.

According to the latest available figures on the projects related to UConn Health:

  • More than 5,200 construction jobs now have been attributed to Bioscience Connecticut.
  • More than 80 percent of the contracts have been awarded to Connecticut businesses.
  • More than 20 percent of contracts have or will have gone to firms categorized as minority-owned, women-owned, or disadvantaged, which is more than triple what state contracting rules require.
  • Total projected small business participation is 36 percent, well above the state requirement of 25 percent.
  • The new hospital tower construction alone has created nearly 1,900 jobs.
  • Veteran hiring for the hospital tower construction is at the 3 percent goal.

“The addition of the new hospital tower is the latest in an ongoing series of capital improvements that strengthen UConn Health, progressively making it more attractive to top medical researchers and clinicians, as well as students, and more competitive in securing NIH, foundation, and other funding for critical research that will improve treatments and outcomes,” says Dr. Fred Carstensen, UConn professor of finance and economics and director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at UConn. “The partnership with the Jackson Laboratory significantly builds on these investments; the collaboration clearly is helping to achieve the full realization of the vision of Bioscience Connecticut of a highly competitive and expanding strength in biomedical research and health care.”

In 2011, a study by the CCEA projected the Bioscience Connecticut initiative would generate 16,400 new permanent jobs, a $4.6 billion increase state personal income, and $823 million in net new tax revenue to the state over the 25-year period starting with construction.