Tower Health and Drexel University plan Berks County medical college

“This milestone in the unique collaboration between the Drexel University College of Medicine and Tower Health allows us to significantly expand opportunities for medical training, which will benefit practitioners and patients alike,” John Fry, Drexel president, said in a statement.

The 200,000-square-foot medical school will be built about a half mile from Reading Hospital in the Knitting Mills redevelopment, a $70 million office and retail complex being constructed at the site of what was formerly known as the VF Outlets.

The health network noted that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Equus Capital Partners In October to build the new medical school building on parcel 9 of the Knitting Mills project.

The medical school building is expected to be complete in 2021.

In the meantime the first class of approximately 40 first-year medical students arriving for the 2020-21 academic year will have classroom and lab instruction in Reading Hospital’s School of Health Sciences.

The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM) of Newton Square, an architectural firm which services educational clients from top-tier colleges and universities, has been chosen to design the building.