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St. Joe's Downtown Pharmacy School Expanding

By Greg Bordonaro

April 17, 2012

Months away from St. Joseph College School of Pharmacy welcoming its second fall class, the private West Hartford educator is expanding its presence in downtown Hartford.

St. Joseph recently leased another 17,000 square feet on the third floor of Hartford 21 retail-residential office tower at Trumbull and Asylum streets.

The new space adds to the 33,000 square feet the school already occupies in the building.

Shawn Harrington, the school's vice president for finance and administration, said the new space is on the same floor that already houses the pharmacy program.

"Enrollment growth requires additional build out," Harrington said.

It will allow the school to double the size of its library; open a dedicated student lounge with seating for 100 people; create a student locker and government meeting area; and provide additional room for administrative support offices.

Harrington said construction on the new space is already underway, with the hopes of completing the space by June 1.

He said the college had preliminary plans to expand into further space as they brought on a larger student body.

St. Joseph welcomed its inaugural class of 68 pharmacy students last fall, and they will be admitting an additional 80 students in September.

Harrington said the program is designed to enroll a maximum 300 students, a number they will gradually reach for in the coming years.

The school will not add more than 100 students in any single year, and there will typically not be more than 200 students on campus at one time because students are mostly in the field during their third year of enrollment, Harrington said.