ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The first dental school in New Mexico is coming as New York-based Touro University broke ground on its newest branch, coming to Albuquerque soon.

The clinical facility will be part of the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute. School officials say they chose New Mexico because they saw a need.

“We talked about a dental school and we’ve been talking about this for 40 years, at least. And even in the last 10, it’s become sort of this pie-in-the-sky dream. It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We want to believe its there but like it’s never going to happen,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “This is real. This is what everybody n Albuquerque needs to understand.”

Leaders expect to have the facility done by May of next year. It will provide around 200 students with a new dental practice location.