Faulkner University has purchased and will revamp the Montgomery East Plaza Shopping Center into the home for its new College of Health Sciences.
The overall vision for the property and the college is to create an interdisciplinary learning model for students and to offer the community a fully operational Autism Center.
Located east and directly adjacent to Faulkner’s Montgomery campus, the property totals 151,000 square feet in store front property and a total of 13 acres of land. Renovations will begin immediately on the storefront section that used to house Burlington Coat Factory. These renovations will include interior classrooms, offices and clinical labs, along with a new frontage and signage. Subsequent renovations will be completed in phases.
“The acquisition of this property provides a tremendous opportunity for Faulkner University to expand our institutional footprint and reinvest in our city,” said Mike Williams, Faulkner University president. “The positive influence it will have on the community is astronomical.”
Once the renovation is completed, the facility will house all of Faulkner’s health science programs including speech and language pathology, physician assistant, physical therapy and occupational therapy. The physician assistant program will begin in fall 2020, while physical therapy is scheduled to begin in 2021, followed by occupational therapy in 2022.
Speech and language pathology classes currently use an off-site clinic, which is open to the public and located on Woodmere Boulevard in Montgomery. The clinic will move to the Montgomery East Plaza location and will remain a public clinic seeing patients free of charge.
Originally the plans were to construct an entirely new facility on Faulkner’s campus for the College of Health Sciences. However, once the shopping center location became available, the opportunities for cost-savings and future expansion made the purchase of the property ideal.
Faulkner University is a private, Christian liberal arts university based in Montgomery, with additional campuses in Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile. It serves both traditional and non-traditional students, with online degree programs available. It offers more than 60 on-campus majors and more than 23 online majors within six colleges.
