Last week, Bexar County in Texas broke ground for the construction of The Women’s and Children’s Hospital at University Hospital, a freestanding 12-story 600,000-sf tower that will include two separate emergency rooms, 300 beds, and a neonatal intensive care unit. The facility, which is scheduled for completion in late 2022, will open with a 900-space parking garage attached to it.
This $500 million project—whose funding was approved in 2017 by the county, which owns University Health System in partnership with UT Health San Antonio—will serve women and children patients exclusively, making it the first of its kind in South Texas, and one of the few such hospitals in the country.
Currently, children occupy the seventh floor of University Hospital’s 1-million-sf Sky Tower extension (which opened in 2014), and the labor and delivery wing occupies the fourth floor of the Horizon Tower, which was built decades ago.
Originally, this project was planned as a smaller building costing $390 million. But its size and budget were broadened to address the growing population of San Antonio, which is located within this county. San Antonio, with more than 1.5 million people, is the seventh-largest city in the U.S., and one of its fastest growing. The San Antonio metro area, with nearly 2.2 million, makes it the 24th-largest metro in the country.
The Women’s and Children’s Hospital will also serve as a medical school that partners with University Health System on research and educational initiatives.
ZGF, working with local architectural firm Marmon Mok, is programming and designing the new tower. Its construction and engineering partners include general contractors Joeris and JE Dunn, Broaddus & Associates (program management), Affiliated Engineers and Alderson & Associates (MEP), IES/Magnusson Klemencic (SE), and Pape Dawson/Gonzalez De La Garza (CE).
During the construction, the progress of the project can be viewed live via two webcams.
The new tower represents the next phase of the hospital system’s Capital Improvement Program, and as such is being funded without any tax rate increases, according to James Adams, chairman of the Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers.
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2013
IBM's five tech-driven innovation predictions for the next five years [infographics]
Smart classrooms, DNA-based medical care, and wired cities are among the technology-related innovations identified by IBM researchers for the company's 5 in 5 report.
| Dec 17, 2013
CBRE's Chris Bodnar and Lee Asher named Healthcare Real Estate Executives of the Year
CBRE Group, Inc. announced today that two of its senior executives, Chris Bodnar and Lee Asher, have been named Healthcare Real Estate Executives of the Year by Healthcare Real Estate Insights.
| Dec 13, 2013
Safe and sound: 10 solutions for fire and life safety
From a dual fire-CO detector to an aspiration-sensing fire alarm, BD+C editors present a roundup of new fire and life safety products and technologies.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Dec 10, 2013
Modular Pedia-Pod: Sustainability in healthcare construction [slideshow]
Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia was the site of a unique display—Pedia-Pod, a modular pediatric treatment room designed and built by NRB, in collaboration with the editors of Building Design+Construction, SGC Horizon LLC, and their team of medical design consultants.
| Dec 3, 2013
Creating a healthcare capital project plan: The truth behind the numbers
When setting up a capital project plan, it's one thing to have the data, but quite another to have the knowledge of the process.
| Nov 27, 2013
Pediatric hospitals improve care with flexible, age-sensitive design
Pediatric hospitals face many of the same concerns as their adult counterparts. Inpatient bed demand is declining, outpatient visits are soaring, and there is a higher level of focus on prevention and reduced readmissions.
| Nov 27, 2013
Exclusive survey: Revenues increased at nearly half of AEC firms in 2013
Forty-six percent of the respondents to an exclusive BD+C survey of AEC professionals reported that revenues had increased this year compared to 2012, with another 24.2% saying cash flow had stayed the same.
| Nov 27, 2013
Wonder walls: 13 choices for the building envelope
BD+C editors present a roundup of the latest technologies and applications in exterior wall systems, from a tapered metal wall installation in Oklahoma to a textured precast concrete solution in North Carolina.
| Nov 27, 2013
LEED for Healthcare offers new paths to green
LEED for Healthcare debuted in spring 2011, and certifications are now beginning to roll in. They include the new Puyallup (Wash.) Medical Center and the W.H. and Elaine McCarty South Tower at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin.
