Driving through the Medical Innovation District in Fort Worth’s Near Southside, it’s impossible to overlook the various construction layouts, workers, vehicles and cranes turning dirt and moving projects forward.
After all, every major health system in Fort Worth — Baylor Scott & White Health, Cook Children’s Health Care System, JPS Health Network, Medical City Healthcare, Moncrief Cancer Institute and Texas Health Resources — is undergoing a major expansion that will help grow the city’s medical capabilities in the coming years.
Robert Sturns, the city’s director of economic development, said these plans are driven by “a need for these institutions to expand their capacity based on the massive population growth that Fort Worth — and North Texas in general — has seen over the past several years.”
“It’s important that Fort Worth’s medical ecosystem continues to keep pace with its population growth, so high-quality patient care is accessible to as many people as possible,” he said in a statement.
Major health systems across Tarrant County say their expansion projects will provide upgraded technology and better care to patients, officials said in interviews with the Report.
“I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say it’s probably the most exciting time in the history of the Near Southside’s Medical District,” Mike Brennan, president of Near Southside Inc., said.
Here’s what you can expect to see.
Baylor Scott & White to raise new Fort Worth garage, building
Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center is currently undergoing construction on a new five-story parking garage that will improve access and parking as part of “a long-term plan to grow our campus,” according to the hospital’s website.
Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center is the Fort Worth branch of Baylor Scott & White Health. The Fort Worth hospital has 538 beds and offers a range of medical services, which include emergency care, labor and delivery, surgery and cancer care.
The Fort Worth hospital is also constructing a new four-story office building called Baylor All Saints Professional Pavilion II that will sit on top of the parking garage. The office building, which totals 100,000 square feet, is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2025, according to LoopNet.
Charles Williams, president of Baylor Scott & White All Saints, said he is proud to be building on a legacy “of more than 100 years of service in our communities.”
“For us, growth isn’t just physical buildings,” he said in a statement. “That means we want to help our patients and customers with what they need to live better, whether it is high-quality care in a hospital setting, convenient care when and where they want it, like on their smartphones or in the comfort of their homes, or wellness offerings to avoid needing ‘sick care’ altogether.”
Cook Children’s lays groundwork for 10-year expansion plan
Cook Children’s Health Care System is setting the stage for growth by embarking on a 10-year master plan to expand and enhance its Fort Worth medical center located in the heart of the Medical District.
The plan will kick off with the construction of a 700,000-square-foot medical tower that is currently labeled as the West Tower. The facility will be an extension of the existing medical center — which currently spans 2.5 million square feet — and make way for an expansion of the neonatal intensive care with an additional 37 beds.
The West Tower also allows for an expansion and redesign of the pediatric intensive care unit and increases capacity for hematology and oncology services. The building will add additional operating rooms and imaging services.
Cook Children’s anticipates it will start construction of the West Tower by the end of 2025. The health system previously declined to provide information about the total cost of the tower.
“It’s an ambitious plan, but it’s exactly what we need to support the growing population and demand for services in our area,” Rick W. Merrill, president and CEO of Cook Children’s Health Care System, said in a statement.
The pediatric health system’s master plan will add a total of 1 million square feet to the medical campus over the span of 10 years.
JPS nears completion of first project in master facility plan
Since 2018, JPS Health Network — also known as the Tarrant County Hospital District — has been undergoing construction on its master facility plan. The hospital system’s master facility plan is supported by an $800 million bond package voters approved in 2018. The plan details new facilities, including a medical home, psychiatric emergency center, medical outpatient building, pavilion expansion and a new hospital.
JPS leaders originally estimated the total cost of the plan at roughly $1.2 billion with the county hospital prepared to contribute $400 million to ensure the expansion. But progress on the master facility plan slowed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, JPS president and CEO Dr. Karen Duncan previously told the Report.
Six years later, the hospital district estimated the total cost of the plan wouldjump to $2.1 billion due to increased labor costs, price of materials and inflation affecting the health care industry. Because of financial changes and reprioritization, JPS has since removed three medical homes that were included in the original proposal from its master facility plan.
The only medical home currently in the plan is set to open in southwest Fort Worth in early 2025. This will be the first JPS master facility plan project to be completed.
“Texas has one of the highest populations of uninsured individuals, so for JPS to be able to provide that access for those individuals who would have no opportunity to have access to health care … is really exciting for us,” Duncan told the Report in a follow-up interview.
Per the original plans, JPS’ next project, the psychiatric emergency center, is set to open in summer 2025. That project will increase the hospital district’s behavioral health capacity from 30 beds to roughly 90. The master facility plan will conclude with new hospital towers in winter 2029 — more than a decade after the approval of the bond package.
“Whether it’s building the design or starting construction, all of those (master facility plan) projects have now started,” she said. “We are still working through the towers. Is it one? Is it two? Is it three? That doesn’t have an answer yet.”
Medical City Fort Worth to grow its Tarrant reach
Medical City Fort Worth recently confirmed to the Report it is in the planning stages of a $37 million expansion project that will include a cardiac laboratory and four operating rooms. Construction, which is budgeted at $18 million, is set to begin in early 2025.
The new laboratory and operating rooms will take up roughly 17,380 square feet within the existing hospital, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
In a follow-up interview with the Report, Medical City Fort Worth CEO John Hoover said the hospital decided to expand its services to keep up with the population growth in Tarrant and surrounding Parker and Johnson counties.
Hoover did not provide additional information about the remaining $19 million of the expansion plans, but said some of those costs are linked to permitting and architectural fees.
Medical City Fort Worth is also in the early stages of exploring an expansion of its Tower B, which currently houses emergency services, surgical patient rooms and neuro intensive care unit rooms, Hoover added.
“We’ve begun the beginning phases of engagement with our architects and some contractors around a vertical tower expansion, so that could range anywhere from 30 to up close to 100 incremental beds,” he told the Report.
UT Southwestern looks to expand its Fort Worth facility
UT Southwestern is looking to grow its Fort Worth campus, which houses Moncrief Cancer Institute, with a $177 million expansion project. UT Southwestern offers medical and surgical oncology, chemotherapy, imaging and a compounding pharmacy.
UT Southwestern currently owns a parcel across the street from the cancer center and intends to use the property to expand by nearly 65,000 square feet to accommodate a new radiation oncology facility and parking garage.
Before its plan can become a reality, the cancer center has to navigate several government entities for the nod on one major request that is necessary for the expansion: to permanently close a block of South Jennings Avenue.
In late June, representatives for UT Southwestern received unanimous approval from Fort Worth’s Urban Design Commission for the street closure recommendation. The proposal will head to Fort Worth City Council at a later date for final approval.
Dr. Jonathan Efron, executive vice president for health system affairs at UT Southwestern, said the medical center wants to grow the capabilities of cancer services in Fort Worth.
“What we have found is that within the Fort Worth area, unlike in Dallas, there is a shortage of the machines that provide radiation therapy,” he told the Report. “Some patients are having to travel elsewhere every day and we’re excited to fill that void.”
If UT Southwestern receives the final necessary approval, the project is expected to break ground in spring 2025 and complete construction in spring 2028.
Texas Health Fort Worth to renovate floors in its Justin Tower
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth completed work on its nine-story Jane and John Justin Tower in early 2022. The $300 million expansion project — the largest in the history of the nonprofit Texas Health Resources — added 440,00 square feet, 144 patient beds, 15 surgical suites and new preoperative and post-operative units to the Fort Worth campus.
Jared Shelton, who was named president of Texas Health Fort Worth in September, told the Report the addition of the Justin Tower has been “an unbelievable success” as the hospital grows its service areas to patients from across Texas.
“Everybody who’s been in (Justin Tower) recognizes what a blessing it is for our campus to be able to offer the latest and greatest in health care, larger rooms — the most up-to-date technology,” he said. “It’s really a legacy project for Texas Health Fort Worth.”
With the success of Justin Tower has come a growing need for more services. The tower has almost immediately filled up, Shelton added.
Texas Health Fort Worth is in the planning process of building out areas on the fourth and fifth floors of the tower. Renovations are set to begin at the end of the first quarter of 2025 and will last through 2026, Shelton said.
“Those (floors) were shelled out for us to be able to grow into as there was patient demand, and we’re already seeing that demand,” he said. “It’ll add around 70 beds to Justin Tower.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated 8:57 a.m. Nov. 25 to clarify UT Southwestern will be expanding, not Moncrief Cancer Institute.
David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or@davidmreports.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
