Las Vegas City Wire

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine has its first lasting edifice.

Thanks to the nonprofit Nevada Health and Bioscience Corporation (NHBC), the building will become the anchor of the Las Vegas Medical District; a recent news release from the university said.

“In addition to providing a space to train physicians, the gift should be a catalyst for attracting new biomedical and pharmaceutical companies to our community, another step in helping our region diversify its economy,” Dr. Marc J. Kahn, dean of the university’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, said in the release.

NHBC held a grand opening for the five-story, 135,000-square-foot Kirk Kerkorian Medical Education Building on Oct. 5. The project was developed to back the enhancement of medical education in Southern Nevada.

The school is named after Kirk Kerkorian, who was the original founder of MGM Resorts International and desired to construct buildings that enticed guests to keep coming back. TSK Architects and CO Architects presented the building with a design excellence award from the American Institute of Architects Nevada.

There are currently 60 students at the school; however, the building is designed to accommodate 120 students.

Donations totaling $120 million from the Bank of America, the Engelstad Foundation, MaryKaye Cashman, the Boyd Family Foundation and Kerkorian's nonprofit Lincy Foundation, along with $25 million from the state government, made it possible to construct the state-of-the-art facility; Maureen Schafer, president and chief executive officer of NHBC, said in the release.