A two-story, 34,000-square-foot medical laboratory is climbing out of the dirt in the Las Vegas Medical District, promising faster test results, a new donor blood center and more hands-on training for students and clinicians. Construction began in 2025, and crews say the facility is expected to open by the end of the year. Local leaders are pitching the project as a way to shorten test wait times and keep more medical spending inside Nevada instead of shipping it across state lines.
What’s Being Built
The NHBC Academic Laboratory is planned as a $44 million, two-story facility with a donor blood center on the ground floor and specialized labs upstairs, according to Nevada Health & Bioscience Corporation. The nonprofit says the building will include dedicated areas for microbiology, virology, tuberculosis identification, stem-cell processing, drug toxicology and a molecular lab.
According to Nevada Health & Bioscience Corporation, the site is designed to house Nevada’s first SAMHSA-certified drug-testing laboratory and provide 24/7 diagnostic and reference testing for hospitals and public agencies. Developers put the building at roughly 34,000 square feet and say it is expected to support clinical services across Southern Nevada.
Funding And Who Will Run It
Money for the project comes from a public-private mix. The State of Nevada awarded a $35 million ARPA grant, and the City of Las Vegas put in $9 million in general funds, with additional investment by NHBC and University Medical Center, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The same report notes that University Medical Center is expected to operate the lab, with Whiting-Turner named as the general contractor and Sletten Construction serving as the owner’s representative.
Officials have said this partnership model was chosen to speed up delivery of the facility and keep more specialized testing in state rather than relying on outside labs.
Training Next To UNLV
Project backers say the NHBC Academic Laboratory will work closely with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV to expand pathology residencies, fellowships and hands-on training in specialties that currently send many Nevada trainees out of state, according to KNPR. KNPR also reported that the facility will include a biosafety level three space for research on high-risk infectious diseases, a capability public health experts describe as scarce in the region.
Supporters argue that by pairing expanded training and research with new lab capacity, the site can help improve retention of physicians and laboratory specialists in Nevada.
What It Means For Patients And The Local Health System
Nevada Health & Bioscience Corporation estimates that keeping more tests in state could save over $5 million a year and shrink turnaround times from days to hours for many diagnostics, a shift officials say would directly benefit hospitals and public health response, according to Nevada Health & Bioscience Corporation. A local news report also noted that the donor blood center is expected to help stabilize supply chains that now depend in part on out-of-state labs and collection centers.
The combination of expanded testing, a local donor blood hub and built-in training programs is intended to lower costs over time while building up the workforce that Southern Nevada hospitals and clinics rely on.
Timeline And Next Steps
The City of Las Vegas posted an update on July 23, 2026, stating that construction has been underway since 2025 and that the facility is scheduled to open by the end of the year, according to City of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier reported that grading work was underway and developers expected the project to be complete in late 2026.
City officials and Nevada Health & Bioscience Corporation representatives have said they will release more scheduling details and information on public use as the site moves through its remaining construction milestones.
What To Watch
Once it opens, the NHBC Academic Laboratory is set to join a growing cluster of medical projects around UNLV’s campus and could change how Southern Nevada handles diagnostics, donor blood services and clinical education. Residents and health care providers can expect phased announcements on available services and donation hours as the lab finishes build-out later this year.
