UF has moved forward with plans to build a new research center at Lake Nona.
UF received $6 million for the design and development stage of the UF Research and Academic Center at Lake Nona from the state legislature.
The new building was dedicated Thursday at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research.
The project will cost an estimated $61 million. UF is seeking funding for the project, which will be home to the Orlando campus of the College of Pharmacy as well as research development, said William Millard, the executive associate dean of the college.
Millard said the center will bring about 100 to 125 research jobs to the area.
He said the type of research the facility will conduct has not been decided yet, but they plan to research new drugs with the potential to become a real treatment for disorders.
The project has no expected completion date because of its lack of funding. It is in the design development stage, said Project Manager Eugene Herring.
The building will be four stories tall and about 60,000 to 65,000 square feet.
Herring also said the primary emphasis of constructing the building will be energy efficiency.
"It will be a good medical environment for the students," said Erin St. Onge, associate dean of the Orlando campus, about the move. "We are not in a medical community right now."
