One of the most visible results of the successful Momentum fundraising campaign is an ambitious construction docket. Several new facilities opened their doors and are playing a vital role in the University’s ever-expanding array of world-class programs and services.

One of the most eagerly awaited is University Village. Fifteen years in the planning, this first new student housing community on the Coral Gables campus in 38 years began welcoming residents in September. Today the attractive complex is home to about 800 junior, senior, graduate, and law students. Among them is senior Nate Stout: “I like the ambience of campus life, and we enjoy having our own apartments.”

The School of Nursing and Health Studies, once housed in a building near University Village, now resides in the four-story, 55,000-square-foot M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing and Health Studies. The building includes leading-edge technologies, including patient simulation labs and smart classrooms outfitted with computer-based communications and instructional capabilities. Classes will be held there beginning in January.

Meeting society’s needs for better health care also is the overarching vision for the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine’s new Clinical Research Building. Providing more than 350,000 square feet of research space, the 15-story building will operate as a full-service clinical research center for scientists and patients. The first of the core research floors should be functional by January; people and programs will continue to move in for about a year thereafter.

Perched dramatically atop the Clinical Research Building is the Medical Wellness Center. This state-of-the-art, 60,000-square-foot facility, which includes a 15,000-square-foot fitness room, wet/dry saunas, a therapy pool, and a juice bar, is a welcoming destination for medical campus employees. Says Lisandra Carballosa, associate director for wellness and recreation at the Miller School, “Feedback from employees since we opened in October has been very positive.”

Back on the Gables campus, finishing touches are being placed on the School of Communication Student Center. Resources of the five-story, 26,400-square-foot addition to the Frances L. Wolfson Building range from a two-story lecture hall with surround sound and teleconferencing capabilities to a top-of-the-line Foley sound effects lab identical to those found in Hollywood studios. “The building will be just an envelope for what the faculty, staff, and students will accomplish within its walls,” says Sam L Grogg, dean of the school.