UK construction update: The latest on classroom renovations, UK HealthCare projects
The University of Kentucky is making progress on several major construction projects, including classroom buildings and expanding the UK HealthCare facilities.
White Hall, Pence Hall and Scovell Hall are undergoing major renovations to update classroom space for students. UK HealthCare plans to invest more than $4 billion in the coming years to expanding its footprint, including a new cancer center on Limestone Street.
The university takes three different approaches to construction on campus, said Mary Vosevich, vice president for facilities management and chief facilities officer of UK.
First, they look at renewal and replacement of systems, like HVAC systems, new roofs or new windows. If a building needs additional repairs, then they consider a modernization project, which would leave the existing building but update or repurpose it for continued use.
Lastly, they consider new construction.
“We try to strike that balance of those three categories,” Vosevich said. “We’re always going to look at infrastructure issues and buildings, so we can keep things functioning right. But we also don’t want to get rid of that early history and culture of the University of Kentucky.”
White Hall to open 2026
Renovations on White Hall, currently the largest classroom building at UK, began earlier this year.
Originally opened in 1969 and centrally located on campus, White Hall is home to approximately 50 classrooms, laboratories and the campus post office. The $75 million renovation is scheduled to be completed by the fall 2026 semester and includes a complete renovation of the space.
“It’s a very important facility for us,” Vosevich said.
The three-story building is approximately 165,000 square feet, and updates will include new lecture halls that can hold between 100 and 290 students and smaller classrooms that can hold 36 to 48 students
While the building is under construction, the classrooms and offices inside are unusable until fall 2026. Classes normally held in White Hall have moved to new locations across campus until then.
Pence Hall to become home to communications college
UK has begun renovations of Pence Hall, a building originally built in 1909, to become the future home of the College of Communication and Information.
Renovations are expected to total $32 million, with construction expected to be finished in time for the fall 2025 semester. UK received a $2.5 million donation from equestrian and award-winning journalist Misdee Wrigley Miller toward the project.
Pence Hall previously housed the architecture program, which moved into the newly renovated Gray Design Building earlier this year. In addition to the College of Communication and Information, Pence Hall will also house the Office for Student Success, student media including the Kentucky Kernel newspaper and KRNL magazine, and technology services, according to UK.
When completed, the building will have five classrooms, an auditorium, two computer labs, a whitebox studio for photography and video and a podcast studio. The goal is to form a “CI neighborhood,” with multiple buildings close together hosting services for the college — Pence Hall, McVey Hall and the Lucille Caudill Little Library, plus the broadcast and production studio in Central Bank Center.
The updates also will bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, adding an elevator.
“Some of these older buildings, or vintage buildings, needed that modernization to address accessibility issues in the buildings also,” Vosevich said. “That’s going along really well.”
Historic Scovell Hall undergoing major renovations
Major changes are coming to Scovell Hall, which has recently undergone demolition, leaving just exterior walls standing.
The university decided against completely demolishing the building because of its historic significance — it was the original agriculture experiment station building on campus, opened in 1903. When renovations are complete, it will again be home to the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Vosevich said.
Renovations are expected to total $70 million and be completed by mid-2026. When finished, the building will house the Department of Dietetics and Human Health, the Department of Community and Leadership Development, the School of Human and Environment Sciences, The Lemon Tree restaurant and seven classrooms and student study spaces.
There will also be a 4,000-square-foot kitchen for the Lemon Tree restaurant, which is run by students each semester.
Additionally, the university also is working on the Martin-Gatton Agricultural Sciences building, which will be the home for the college’s classrooms and student center. That building is expected to be completed in early 2026.
UK HealthCare construction
UK HealthCare is in the midst of a $4.4 billion expansion project, adding nine new buildings and expanded health care options. In total, the projects will add nearly 500 in-patient beds to the UK HealthCare system over the next several years throughout Central Kentucky.
In Lexington, the new Markey Cancer Center building is underway. The new building will be located next to Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, and will centrally locate the cancer center’s offerings. The new building will add 70,000 square-feet and an adjacent parking garage, and is scheduled to open for patients in 2027.
Another big project is expanding the Albert B. Chandler Hospital, adding 300 new beds to the facility. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and fully operational by 2033.
“It’s a big project for us,” Vosevich said.
Other construction projects
Several other construction projects are ongoing.
UK began construction of a new residence hall on south campus, behind Ingels, Baldwin and Smith halls. It will be the first residence hall constructed since 2017, as UK has seen growing enrollment and higher interest in on-campus housing in recent years.
The dorm is expected to open for students by August 2026, and include approximately 649 beds, study rooms, laundry facilities and kitchens. While the facility will be operated by Greystar Real Estate, UK will operate programming in the dorm, according to board of trustees materials from December, when the dorm was approved.
The project is expected to cost $81 million, UK said last year.
Additionally, UK is expanding Parking Structure 7 and the Johnson Center — the recreation center located behind Kroger Field.
“I think the students really need it, crave it, want it,” Vosevich said. “The more students we have, and we have had a pretty robust enrollment this year, the more (recreation) space we need.”
The Health Education Building, which will be home to four health colleges in one space, is on track to open in fall 2026. The building will become the largest academic building at UK, located between campus and the UK hospitals, and home to programs in four health colleges: medicine, public health, health sciences and nursing.
The new building will allow UK to admit more students into the College of Medicine and College of Nursing, growing the health care workforce in Kentucky.
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 5:00 AM.