Canisius College on Friday unveiled its largest-ever investment on the Main Street campus.
The college formally opened its latest academic building - Science Hall - after spending nearly $40 million to renovate the lower and first floors of the former HealthNow building at Main and Jefferson Avenue.
The college plans to spend as much as $40 million more in the coming years to complete the building renovation and bring all of its science programs under one roof, said Canisius President John J. Hurley.
Science Hall triples the college's investment in the sciences, an emphasis for more and more higher-ed institutions.
"We can no longer think of science in traditional silos - just chemistry, just biology or just physics," Hurley said.
"New discoveries will not spring from individuals who work in isolation, but from teams of scientists, from different disciplines, who look at the same problem in different ways to move research forward."
Maybe best known as a Sears, Roebuck store until 1980, the 237,000-square-foot building and adjacent parking ramp was purchased by Canisius, which took ownership of the building in 2008.
The college borrowed funds, raised money during a capital campaign and received state and private grants to complete the first phase of the project, which includes new classrooms, computer labs and student lounge areas.
The building's first floor will serve as the new home for the departments of computer science and mathematics, the Institute for Autism Research and the Dr. George E. Schreiner Pre-Medical Center.
The second and third phases of the project will renovate the upper floors to make room for the departments of physics, chemistry, biochemistry and the Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relationships.
Mayor Byron W. Brown noted that Canisius has infused some $200 million into its Main Street campus over the past 15 years.

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