Developer Rimrock Devlin and Jacksonville University are advancing work toward building a medical school north of the JU Arlington riverfront campus by submitting civil engineering plans to the city and acquiring a service availability determination from JEA.
Civil engineer Taylor & White Inc. submitted plans to the city Oct. 16 for the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which announced a partnership with Jacksonville University on Nov. 30, 2022, to establish a four-year medical school in Northeast Florida that will become LECOM at Jacksonville University.
The school is expected to begin classes in fall 2026.
The civil engineering plans show LECOM Jacksonville at Dolphin Reef at Dolphin Point Boulevard. The address is 3412 University Blvd. N.
Plans show the three-story, 72,100-square-foot building is planned on about 9.9 acres north of Dolphin Pointe Health Care and west of the JU Health Sciences Complex.
City utility JEA issued a service availability determination letter Sept. 18 for “Lecom @ Jacksonville University.”
The project is described as construction of a classroom building with parking on the site at JU.
Project plans show the undeveloped site is owned by OLT II Inc. of Ohio.
The 55-acre JU Medical Mall is owned by Dayton, Ohio-based OLT II Inc., which was led by JU graduate Gregory Nelson, who died in February 2021 at the age of 71.
The site is along the St. Johns River.
The project
JU President Tim Cost said in November 2022 that LECOM plans to invest about $50 million to develop the location, including the acquisition of land and construction of a 50,000-square-foot building.
Rimrock Devlin of Lake City is the developer, applicant and owner’s representative.
Kasper architects + associates is the architect.
In the November 2022 announcement, LECOM President and CEO John Ferretti said partnering with Jacksonville University to establish its fifth campus “will produce doctors and skilled health care workers that will serve northeast Florida and beyond.”
The announcement said the medical school will be supported by long-term clinical agreements with regional health care providers, including Baptist Health, Flagler Health+, AdventHealth, HCA Florida Memorial Hospital and Brooks Rehabilitation,
Flagler Health+ has since become UF Health St. Johns.
Additional clinical partners include Island Doctors, Wekiva Springs Center and Angel Kids Pediatrics.
As the official clinical education partners for LECOM at Jacksonville University, those providers said they will accept third- and fourth-year medical students for training in their regional facilities.
“Since our inception 30 years ago, LECOM strives to meet the need for highly trained physicians in the markets we serve and throughout the country,” Ferretti said.
Cost said in the announcement that the university had become a globally recognized health care hub that “will now be enhanced by a four-year medical school that can deliver a pipeline of talented physicians to meet the healthcare needs of a growing population.”
LECOM said it officially filed its formal application with the industry’s governing accrediting body, the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, on Oct. 12, 2022, to establish its fifth campus.
The announcement said the medical school expects to welcome an inaugural class of about 75 medical students to its Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program in 2026, with total enrollment growing to nearly 150 students per year within five years.
It said LECOM plans to build its new education facility within the JU Medical Mall mixed-use health care plaza at the north end of the university’s Arlington campus along University Boulevard North.
In addition to the LECOM facility, the site features the JU Health Sciences Complex and its School of Orthodontics Teaching Clinic; JU’s Occupational Therapy teaching facility for immersive clinical training; and the 146-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility, Dolphin Pointe Health Care.
The November 2022 announcement said osteopathic medicine is one of the fastest-growing health care professions.
“Built on the philosophy that physicians should treat the whole patient, rather than just symptoms, osteopathic medicine takes a holistic approach to healthcare that focuses on health promotion and disease prevention,” it said.
According to the announcement, the nation faces a critical physician workforce shortage. According to a report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, only 32% of Florida’s population has adequate primary care, and nearly half of primary care physicians are expected to retire in the next 15 to 20 years.
LECOM
Founded in 1992, LECOM said its first four locations are in Bradenton; Elmira, New York; and Greensburg and Erie, Pennsylvania.
LECOM says it is the largest medical school in the country and was established as the 16th College of Osteopathic Medicine in the nation, with a charter class in 1993 in Erie.
LECOM developed the first branch campus in Bradenton, followed in 2009 at Seton Hill University in Greensburg and in 2018 at Elmira.
The college’s mission is to prepare students to become osteopathic physicians through a program of education, research, clinical care and community service.
With its five colleges, 11 schools and four institutes, JU is based at its 235-acre riverfront campus and has opened its College of Law in Downtown Jacksonville.