Mayo Clinic to build $11M sports medicine, imaging center in County Materials Complex
Mar. 8—EAU CLAIRE — Mayo Clinic Health System's ties with UW-Eau Claire will become even closer with an $11 million diagnostic imaging and sports medicine center that the health care provider is making as part of the County Materials Complex.
Treating both Mayo Clinic patients and Blugold athletes, the 20,000-square-foot center will build on research done between the university and health care giant, plus provide clinical opportunities for students studying to become nurses and athletic trainers.
"We are very excited to see this project moving forward," said Dr. Richard Helmers, regional vice president of Mayo Clinic Health System in Northwest Wisconsin.
The new center will house the local sports medicine services and include a fixed MRI, two x-ray suites and an ultrasound procedure room.
Mayo Clinic's new center will account for just under 9% of the entire complex's 231,000 gross square feet. The complex will include a 5,000-seat event center for Blugold basketball games and live performances, as well as a 100-yard indoor field house. A fitness center for UW-Eau Claire, university athletics offices and a commons area are also part of the complex's plans.
Construction of the entire complex is set to begin this spring, but Mayo Clinic doesn't expect to begin work on its center there until November. All parts of the complex are scheduled to open in time for the university's commencement ceremony at the end of the spring semester in 2024.
Mayo ties
Leaders from Mayo Clinic's local operations spoke on Tuesday morning in the Davies Center on the UW-Eau Claire campus. Their news conference provided the details on the new centern as well as how it will build on existing relationships between the university and health care giant.
"This allows us to really solidify this relationship by being there," said Jason Craig, regional chair of administration for Mayo Clinic Health System in Northwest Wisconsin.
Mayo Clinic and the university signed an agreement in 2017 that provides opportunities for university students and faculty to do collaborative research with health care professionals. And last year Mayo Clinic Health System became the official sports medicine provider to Blugold Athletics, serving the university's student athletes.
Mayo Clinic has already been adding staff incrementally in its local sports medicine department to prepare for the move to the County Materials Complex, Craig said.
Mayo Clinic's existing sports medicine facilities are located inside its large Luther Campus, next to orthopedics. Staff from there will move into the new center when its finished, Craig said, and the space they leave won't be empty for long as orthopedics are expected to grow into there.
More to come
The 24 acres along Menomonie Street where the County Materials Complex is set to go are currently occupied with big mounds of dirt and an old brick building, but not for long.
Kimera Way, executive director of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation and Blugold Real Estate, said preparation of the Sonnentag site along Menomonie Street should start by the end of March.
"They should be out there as soon as weather allows," she said.
A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on April 25 at the site.
Leading up to the groundbreaking, UW-Eau Claire plans to make at least two more announcements detailing other parts of the County Materials Complex.
"This is just one of many we'll be announcing over the next couple of months," Chancellor James Schmidt said.
During his comments at Tuesday morning's news conference, the chancellor reiterated the significance of an alumni couple's philanthropy that has driven the planned complex.
John and Carolyn Sonnentag, who had led County Materials Corp., have given $70 million worth of land and cash to the project, including the company's former site on Menomonie Street. The event center and field house will bear the Sonnentag name while the entire complex is named for the company the Sonnentag family founded.
