Howard University has announced a five-year, $785 million construction program that will add three new multidisciplinary academic facilities, and renovate several existing buildings on the main Washington, D.C., campus.

Scheduled to get underway later this year, the program represents the largest real estate investment in the university’s 155-year history, as well as its largest single addition of academic classroom space since 1984.

The majority of the program—$670 million—will fund three academic centers, led by the Health Sciences Complex, a seven-story building that will co-locate the university’s College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy and the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. The complex will provide a much-needed update to Howard’s existing medical training facilities, which the school says are currently spread across separate, 80-year-old buildings.

Other major projects include a new Center for Arts and Communications, which will house the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, and include structured parking and space for Howard’s radio and television operations; and the STEM Center, which will house various STEM programs and disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, mathematics and associated labs.

Several existing campus facilities will also undergo renovations including the historic 78,000-sq-ft Myrtilla Miner Building, a 109-year-old structure that formerly served as a teachers college and one of the first high schools for Black women. The updated building will house the School of Education and the Howard University Middle School for Mathematics and Science.

The university did not identify design and construction teams for the projects, all of which are expected to be completed by 2026.

The newly announced construction program launches the implementation of Howard’s 2020 Central Campus Master Plan, which also calls for approximately 1,500 new student housing units, modernization of the 90-year-old campus steam plant and a new Howard Union building. Last year saw reopening of Howard’s Undergraduate Library after an eight-year, $28 million renovation effort.