Contractors will bring in heavy equipment to demolish the Kracke building beginning 7 a.m. Oct. 9. During the approximately four-hour offloading process 7th Avenue South between 19th and 20th streets south will be closed to traffic.

“As we move through this demolition and construction process for the new Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building, we are working to ensure we have limited impact to pedestrian and vehicular traffic,” said Denton Lunceford, assistant vice president of Facilities’ Planning Design & Construction. “We have scheduled this closure to happen on the weekend when there is limited traffic.”

Construction fencing was placed around the demolition area in July, blocking pedestrian access on the north side of 7th Avenue South. That fencing will be in place for the entirety of the project, which is expected to be completed in June 2024.

The building was announced in December 2020, with funding from the state, county and philanthropy. The project will renovate the existing Lyons-Harrison Research Building to encompass 145,000 square feet of new computational research, research support, office, administrative and scientific collaboration and meeting spaces.

The Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building is a major project in the School of Medicine’s long-range plan to enhance research in genomic medicine and computational biology. The building is central to the overall complex of interconnected research and support facilities located at UAB’s hub of basic and translational research enterprise. Along with McCallum, which is now in Phase II of a three-phase comprehensive renovation, the building will enable UAB to become one of the most collaborative research facilities in the nation.