Governor Andrew Cuomo led a long line of officials who took part in Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony for the University at Buffalo's new medical school. The eight-story facility is going up at Main and High streets on the downtown Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus. The $375 million school is the largest individual construction project in UB's 167-year history.
Cuomo started his visit touring new projects underway on the Inner and Outer Harbors. He says there is a "shift in the city's energy."
"People believe in Buffalo. People believe it's coming back. They've seen the progress. They've been dubious in the past, but they're feeling it. This Medical Campus is so exciting and the development along the waterfront, it's working," Cuomo said.
The facility is expected to open in 2016. Other nearby construction projects include a new Children's Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institute's $40 million clinical sciences center.
Cuomo told the nearly 500 people attending the groundbreaking Buffalo has "turned the curve."
"And now the sky is the limit," he said. "When we put the shovel in the ground today, that was a shovel towards the new future for Buffalo. With this leadership, with this energy, there's no stopping what Buffalo can do."
The facility is expected to open across High Street from the new Children's Hospital in 2016. It is estimated the school will bring an additional 2,000 faculty, staff and students to downtown Buffalo.