READING, Pa. – Penn State Health is moving forward with a construction project that will allow the health system to accommodate continued growth on the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center campus. As the Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine campus undertakes several key expansion projects, including a planned research and education facility, demand for additional parking has increased. A new parking structure will provide for planned growth and replace parking lost to building expansion and construction. 

The Penn State Board of Trustees approved today the final plans and funds for a new parking garage and a loop road on the west side of the medical center campus. The $35 million project was previously awarded to design-build firm Clayco, Inc. 

The parking garage will be built on an existing ground-level parking lot adjacent to the University Fitness Center. It will add more than 1,200 parking spaces and be engineered to support expansion if necessary. A new loop road will provide convenient access to that garage, as well as the west side of campus and the planned Penn State College of Medicine Innovation Pavilion.  

The Innovation Pavilion will be one of the most significant construction projects on campus since the College of Medicine opened in 1966. Upon completion, the building will unite the College of Medicine’s robust research initiatives and learning spaces in an advanced building that will bolster modern scientific discovery and teaching. 

Several significant construction projects continue on the Hershey campus, including the Emergency Department expansion and fit out (slated for summer 2019 completion), and the three-story Children’s Hospital addition (expected to open in 2020). 

Construction on the new parking garage and loop road is slated to start this fall and be complete in late 2019.