BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - History is taking shape in Buffalo Tuesday morning as the city and the University at Buffalo break ground on a new medical campus.

Not only is it changing the face of Buffalo, but its going to change the way people view Buffalo as a medical hub. This is the first part of Governor Andrew Cuomos 20/20 plan. It took years to happen, but Cuomo says good things do sometimes take awhile.

Cuomo said, We owe a great debt of gratitude to all the people who work so hard to make it happen. You can have a great idea, but then you have to get it done. The getting it done is often the hard part.

U.B. President Satish Tripathi said, This is a critical milestone toward realizing our UB 20/20 vision, a vision of establishing UB among the ranks of the worlds greatest research universities.

UBs new $375 million state-of-the-art medical school will bring 2,000 faculty, students and staff to downtown Buffalo. They will be near teaching hospitals where classroom lessons can be applied to real life patient care.

PHOTO GALLERY | See renderings of what the completed Medical School will look like!

The eight story, 540,000-square-foot building will bring medical students into a medical hub of hospitals and research centers destined to be on par with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and St. Louis.

"Companies start moving in, and more companies start moving in, and young people start moving in, and more young people start moving in, and then there is an upwards spiral," Cuomo said.

The new facility will make a difference for UB medical students who know just what the new campus will offer them.

UB Medical Student William Stendardi said, We're going to be seeing patients every day. We're going to be around physicians, researchers, other health care professionals, and we're going to be around health care every day we go to class.

Original post:

UB breaks ground for new medical school