MERCED, CA — Turner announces that the company has been selected by the University of California, Merced, to provide construction management at risk services for the construction of a new, state-funded Medical Education Building on campus.

The state-funded, four-story, 203,000-square-foot building designed by ZGF will be home to UC Merced’s medical education pathway. UC Merced is partnering with UCSF-Fresno on the UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education to recruit and train a new generation of health care professionals. The building will provide instructional facilities, classrooms, a community sample collection and analysis laboratory, developmental psychology intake laboratories, social sciences faculty research laboratories, clinical practicum spaces, and a cafe. The site will include a hardscape, landscape, and parking lot, and it will explore the relocation of the Cottonwood stormwater detention basin and upgrade utilities as necessary.

“This Medical Education Building is the first of its kind in our community," said Kelly Graef, Project Executive at Turner Construction. "Featuring cutting-edge laboratories and clinical practicum spaces, this building will provide students with invaluable hands-on experience mirroring real-world scenarios. This sets a new benchmark of health care education previously unseen in the Central Valley.”

In 2018, Turner completed the construction of UC Merced’s new Downtown Center, which provides downtown Merced with open offices, conference rooms, support facilities, and mixed-use spaces. Now, Turner will return to campus to assist UC Merced in positively impacting the Valley in the growth of medical education.

The Medical Education Building will be designed to run only on clean energy without using natural gas, supporting UC Merced’s carbon neutrality status. Construction began in spring 2024, and completion is slated for fall 2026.

“We are very pleased by the Regents’ show of support for the Medical Education [Building] at UC Merced,” UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said in a news release. “The lack of quality health care options in the region is well documented, and this new building will enable UC Merced to train physicians uniquely qualified to address the Valley’s health needs.”