University of St. Joseph’s pharmacy school to leave downtown Hartford in 2022 for main campus in West Hartford

After a decade in downtown Hartford, the University of St. Joseph will move its pharmacy school to the university’s main campus in West Hartford when its lease at the XL Center expires in 2022, according to an internal announcement to the campus Tuesday.

The decision comes, the announcement said, as the university expands its Interprofessional Education programs focusing on nursing, nutrition, physician assistant studies, health science, exercise science, counseling, public health and social work programs at its campus on Asylum Avenue.

“The XL Center, in the heart of the city, has been a valued home for pharmacy, but having the pharmacy students and faculty on our West Hartford campus will enrich the IPE experience for all of our students in health care,” Rhona C. Free, the university’s president said.

The graduate school of pharmacy — which was the first doctoral program at St. Joseph — occupies 50,000 square feet of space on an upper floor of the Hartford 21 complex facing Trumbull Street. The space, owned by Newton, Mass.-based Northland Investment Corp., is partly above the atrium that serves as the entrance to the XL Center arena.

There are about 180 students enrolled in the three-year program, 60 for each year with third year students spending most of the year off-campus in clinical placements.

The school of pharmacy opened to much fanfare in 2011, choosing to locate in the heart of downtown, a boost for local businesses and building on the street vibrancy. The location also was seen as advantageous for its closeness to hospitals in the city. Initially, enrollment was forecast to possibly grow to 300 within five years.

The loss is a blow the city’s overall revitalization efforts and a push to build a college town atmosphere in Hartford where Trinity College and UConn’s regional campus on Front Street are located. The announcement also comes less than a week after M&T Bank said it will cut more than 40 jobs in downtown Hartford as it acquires People’s United Bank.

“We valued having the [university] pharmacy school downtown, and we’re especially grateful for all that they do to education so many Hartford residents,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said, in a statement Tuesday. “We’re sorry to see them leave the XL Center space, but we look forward to working closely with President Free and the [university’s] team to ensure that Hartford residents continue to see {the university] as a great educational option – and [university] students see Hartford as their city.”

The opening up of the pharmacy school space could provide new options for the long-debated renovation of the XL Center arena.

The current, $100 million plan is focused on the lower half of the arena and would not involve the school space. An earlier, more ambitious plan with a larger, $250 million price tag to go along with it would have cut into the school space to build a second concourse.

Since the $100 million plan was adopted, however, the XL Center has been mentioned as the likely location of a major sports betting venue planned for Hartford, now that the state has legalized online gambling.

Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority that oversees the XL Center arena and the renovations, declined to comment Tuesday.

In a statement Tuesday, Northland said it had worked to keep the university as a tenant in the building.

“While we are disappointed, we wish [the university] well and will make every effort to attract another outstanding organization to this prime location in downtown Hartford,” Northland said.

In its announcement, the university said new labs for the pharmacy school will be built in existing buildings on campus, the move will give pharmacy students closer access to new spaces constructed on the campus in the last four years for the nursing and physician assistant studies programs.

The newest — spaces for the nursing program — will open this summer. Having the pharmacy program closer to the university’s health-related programs will foster more collaboration among faculty and students, the university said.

“The opportunities for interdisciplinary engagements are immensely beneficial to both faculty and students and will, in turn, help us advance and expand the skillset of our graduates,” Ahmed Abdelmageed, dean of the school of pharmacy and physician assistant studies. said.

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be contacted at kgosselin@courant.com.