Southwest Tennessee Community College this week moved closer to beginning its planned Nursing and Biotechnology Building at 693 Union Ave., according to a $14.6 million building permit application filed Monday with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement.

Ron Parr, STCC vice president of financial and administrative services, said the college in November purchased the site of the BP gas station at Union and Myrtle Street, across from Sun Studio, as well as two additional neighboring properties.

“There are bids out currently to clear the site, but we also have to excavate the gas tanks,” said Parr, adding that he hopes that portion of the project will be completed by late February.

In addition to the challenges involved in razing the gas station, Southwest is negotiating with Clear Channel Radio for the removal of a large billboard that looms over the property.

“As soon as we can have an amicable agreement, we’ll be set to go and mobilize,” Parr said. “At this point, assuming everything goes well, we’ll be able to start construction by May 1. That’s our plan, assuming we can get this billboard issue resolved.”

W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. will serve as the project’s general contractor.

Designed by Fleming/Associates/Architects PC, the 61,000-square-foot, three-story Nursing and Biotechnology Building will have two wings: one for nursing and another for natural sciences and biotechnology.

The facility will include a 250-seat teaching auditorium, four lecture rooms, a 100-seat computer laboratory, patient simulation lab, nursing skills and biotech labs, and an office suite for faculty and staff.

“I think it’s going to open all sorts of doors and possibilities,” said Mary Vines, department chair of nursing at the college. “It will allow us more innovative ways to educate students.”

Parr said the total cost of the long-awaited project is about $18.2 million.

The Southwest Foundation in 2010 received $8.4 million in state appropriations for the building’s construction. By that time, the foundation had already raised roughly $10 million from individuals, corporations, organizations and federal appropriations. Medtronic Inc., the Minneapolis-based company whose Spinal and Biologics Business is based in Memphis, pledged $1 million, while FedEx Corp. pledged $2 million – the largest donation in STCC’s history.

Other significant contributors included Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

“Everyone in the Medical District is supportive of our project,” Parr said. “It will fulfill a need. With an aging population, you’re just going to need more nurses. We’ll be able to double our capacity with this building going up. We’re all very excited about this project.”

The nation’s aging population has made nursing an attractive option for workers seeking more career stability in an uncertain economy.

However, thousands of qualified nursing school applicants are being turned away from programs because the academic institutions lack the capacity to accommodate the increasing numbers of students.

“That’s what gave rise to this building,” Parr said. “It’s because we’ve been at capacity and there’s a waiting list now that will maybe even exceed our growth.”

STCC has outgrown its current 8,500-square-foot facility. Vines said the college’s nursing program turns away about 200 qualified applicants each semester.

“We have 250 in the program, which is more than capacity,” Vines said. “We’re just packed on top of each other and our program runs 24-7. We have a day track and an evening and weekend track, so we’re running seven days a week to accommodate all these students.”

The college offers an Applied Science degree in nursing, which prepares graduates for immediate licensure and employment. Many students choose to pursue higher degrees in nursing at institutions such as the University of Memphis, Baptist College of Nursing, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Several former STCC students have returned to STCC to teach after having received advanced nursing degrees. The new building will also offer students engaged in bioscience studies the benefit of training in a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Memphis’ booming bioscience industry.