Mayo Clinic Health System will lease space in the soon to be constructed science building at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.

According to a press release from the Universities of Wisconsin on Monday, the board of regents approved a 30 year lease with Mayo Clinic for integrated research workspace in the soon to be built Science and Health Sciences Building on the Eau Claire campus.

The healthcare organization will receive 10,000 square feet of space across five floors of the building for research, instruction, and general office and meeting space. In return, they have committed nearly $14 million to the project.

Part of the agreement will be the integration of the Mayo Clinic Facilities with the University’s faculty and student spaces, providing students with a unique opportunity to see what their chosen career field could look like. The organization will also be in a unique position to work with the University on hiring graduates to remain in the area at a time when the Chippewa Valley is facing a healthcare crisis.

With the closure of all HSHS and Prevea facilities in the region, other healthcare providers have been actively seeking to expand their footprint in the area.

In total, the new Science and Health Sciences Building is expected to cost just over $340 million. The state-of-the-art building will be about 330,000 square feet in total, and will replace Phillips Hall as the main science building. Some of the academic programs that will occupy the building range from biology and chemistry to public health and environmental studies to astronomy and neuroscience.

Construction on the building will begin this summer.