Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth broke ground Oct. 13 on a $463 million expansion of Memorial Hospital North in Colorado Springs, Colo., a three-year project that will nearly double the hospital’s inpatient, surgical and specialty care services, The Gazette reported Oct. 13.
The expansion will raise the hospital’s capacity to 190 beds, with the ability to grow to 320 beds, Lonnie Cramer, president and CEO of UCHealth’s southern Colorado region, said at the groundbreaking, according to the report.
The project includes a six-story inpatient tower adding 50 beds, four new operating rooms in the first phase for a total of 14 (with four more planned for an eventual 18), 12 additional emergency department exam rooms, a larger laboratory, a renovated main lobby, an expanded kitchen and cafeteria, and an 875-space covered parking garage.
The expansion comes amid growing demand at the hospital. From 2020 through 2025, hospitalizations at Memorial Hospital North rose 25%, emergency department visits climbed 41% and surgeries grew 59%. The medical and surgical units averaged 94% occupancy last year and frequently reached 100%, Mr. Cramer said, forcing the hospital to hold patients “in the Emergency Department or in recovery until beds open up.”
The parking garage will break ground in December and finish in spring 2028. The first phase also includes the new operating rooms, recovery rooms, emergency rooms and cafeteria remodel; the 50-bed tower falls in the second phase. All work is slated for completion by summer 2029.
The expansion will add about 300 employees to the hospital’s current workforce of roughly 1,200, according to the report.
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