Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School will be based in this 65,000-square- foot building at 222 Richmond St.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

PROVIDENCE — Brown University’s medical school is no longer homeless.

The university’s governing board voted Friday to renovate an 81-year-old building it already owns in the Jewelry District, at 222 Richmond St., to serve as headquarters for the Warren Alpert Medical School.

The medical school, which opened in 1972, has always operated from offices scattered around the campus and in its affiliated hospitals. In 2007, the medical school received a $100-million gift –– and a new name –– from the Warren Alpert Foundation, established by the businessman and owner of the Xtra Mart convenience-store chain.

At the time, Brown officials said some of the money would be spent building a new medical school in Providence, near Rhode Island Hospital, Brown’s main teaching hospital. But it was decided instead to renovate an existing property, which is located about three-quarters of a mile from Rhode Island Hospital and about a mile from campus.

“This is the best solution,” said Dr. Edward J. Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences. “The shape and size is just right for us. It’s got high visibility. There’s Brown-owned parking right next to it.”

If all goes well, the new medical school will open in August 2011, sooner than would be possible if it were new construction, he said.

Ellenzweig Associates will design a $45-million renovation of the three-story, 65,000-square-foot building on the corner of Ship Street.

The medical school building will be the first major expenditure of the Alpert money, of which Brown has received about $25 million. A small amount has also been dispensed for scholarships. In the future it will be spent on the building, more scholarships, professorships and research.

The building on Richmond Street was among seven properties in the neighborhood that the university purchased in 2006, without specifying its plans for them. They were all commercial properties with offices and limited retail space. The university pledged to honor existing leases and pay property taxes; when any are converted to university use Brown will begin the 15-year transition from taxable status to tax-exempt status.

State leaders hope the Jewelry District can become a center for biomedical research. Wing predicted the school will produce spinoff development in the area. “It will be a signature building for the knowledge-based district,” he said.

Wing said he also likes the idea that the building was once a jewelry factory at the core of Providence’s thriving manufacturing economy in the previous century. “It’s now going to be turned into one of the strengths of the new Providence,” he said.

In April, Brown and the state Economic Development Corporation opened the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where academic researchers will be trained in market research and business planning.

ffreyer@projo.com