Parkview campus to be home to a college

FORT WAYNE, IND. (WANE) - Despite a bad economy, a local university is growing. Manchester College will open its first School of Pharmacy in Fort Wayne. It will be the school’s first satellite campus.

The door opening, so to speak, comes at a time when another is closing. That’s because the school will open up on part of the Parkview Randallia campus, which will be downsized come 2012 when several divisions move to Parkview North.

The Manchester College School of Pharmacy will fill the 60,000 square foot Fort Wayne Cardiology building on the south end of the Parkview Randallia campus along Carew Street.

"Fort Wayne has become a regional medical destination with top-notch facilities and experts on a wide range of specialties," said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry.

That, Manchester College President Jo Young Switzer says, is the reason it chose Fort Wayne for its satellite campus.

They'll also partner with Parkview Health, which is largely why the Carew Street location beat about a dozen around town.

"Those students [will] work with our physician staff, our nursing staff, our pharmacy staff, but also work with the community," said Parkview Hospital President & CEO Mike Packnett.

Several rooms inside Fort Wayne Cardiology are all set up and ready to go for a medical procedure. Manchester College will change that, removing equipment and doing other minor renovations. They estimate they'll spend $10 to $11 million on start-up costs alone.

Manchester is raising that money, while pushing on despite the tough economy.

“When the economy is struggling so much is exactly the time to do some of these kinds of initiatives. If we all hunkered down in this economy we're going to be in trouble for a long time, so at Manchester we have simultaneously worked on this new initiative and at the same time have done a lot of cost-cutting on our main campus,” said Switzer.

The Manchester College School of Pharmacy is expected to open in 2012. More than 250 students are expected to occupy the space, along with 30 faculty and 10 staff members.

Community members say that'll also allow for more people to be in that area – likely living there and spending money there.

Meanwhile, the rest of the space along the Randallia Campus will also change. Plans still call for cutting the hospital from 320 beds to a little more than 60.

The emergency room will stay. A parking garage and parking tower will come down.

As for the rest of the campus, Parkview is still mapping out its future.

“We're producing a long term plan, not just for the campus -- not just for the hospital -- but for about a mile around the campus,” said Packnett.

Parkview is working with Eden Collaborative to determine the best use for the remaining Randallia buildings.