WARRICK COUNTY — Warrick County officials on Tuesday made their pitch to locate an expansion of the Indiana University School of Medicine at a site north of Indiana 66 and just east of Epworth Road.
Officials say the location would be part of the "Warrick Wellness Trail," which is already home to Deaconess Gateway, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing, and several other medical facilities, including office space, senior care and skilled-living facilities, according to a news release issued Tuesday morning.
The project has been referred to popularly as the “IU medical school project,” but in reality the project will include Indiana University School of Medicine-Evansville, the University of Evansville, the University of Southern Indiana and Ivy Tech, multiple health science degree programs, and four regional hospitals. Plans also call for a 40,000-square-foot simulation center to be used for training, research and possibly product development work.
Currently, IU’s school of medicine in Evansville is housed at USI. Until now it’s been a place where students could complete their first two years of medical school. With the expansion project, the school will become a full four-year medical school, to be located at a yet-undetermined site.
According to the Tuesday news release from Warrick officials, the wellness trail site would be on the ground that originally was known as the Allen homeplace farms and Schnapf family property.
“It offers extensive acreage that’s already approved and cleared for development, more than enough infrastructure to support the campus and excellent transportation access for the million residents in the Tri-State area," Don Williams, president of the Warrick County Commissioners, said in the news release.