Methodist Healthcare Continues Investment to Meet the Needs Of the Growing Center City Population
View from Erie Street looking toward McCullough (to the West). The center part represents the expansion project with the tower connected to the existing structure of the hospital and anchored on the other side by the existing parking garage.
San Antonio, Texas – October 9, 2012 – Officials of Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, a campus of Methodist Hospital, today announced plans for a $50 million expansion at a “sky breaking” ceremony.
San Antonio City Councilman Diego Bernal joined Greg Seiler, hospital chief executive officer, in ceremonies that included a traditional groundbreaking and a skybreaking with workers using sledgehammers to begin demolition where the new structure will be connected to the existing building.
The Metropolitan Methodist Hospital expansion includes an 85,000-square-foot, 7 story patient tower, which will house an intensive care unit (ICU) that can accommodate 48 I.C.U. beds and that will house additional diagnostic and surgical areas and a gastrointestinal lab. These efforts are part of a continued investment by Methodist Healthcare to meet the needs of the growing center city population.
“From the inception of the partnership between Methodist Healthcare Ministries and HCA, Methodist Healthcare has been dedicated and committed to meeting the health care needs of downtown San Antonio. The Metropolitan Methodist Hospital campus has evolved and expanded over the years with the addition of a free-standing women’s pavilion, a major emergency department renovation, two additional medical office buildings and now a major expansion that includes the building of an ICU tower, housing much needed critical care beds. In recent years, we have invested more than $105 million into Metropolitan Methodist Hospital and we envision more growth in the near future as the footprint of our center city expands,” said Seiler.
Councilman Bernal recognized the staff and expressed his gratitude for their service to the community. “Whether you are in a white coat, in scrubs with a stethoscope, sit behind a desk, deliver food or even scrub the toilets, all your efforts go to providing care so people can walk in or be brought in, injured or sick, and walk out healthy, with promise. And in that way the work you do for all of humanity is more important than anything else the rest of us do. So I thank you and the city thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. I’m happy that you’re not only here, but you’re getting bigger,” Bernal said as he addressed the crowd gathered outside the hospital for the official kickoff of the construction project.
The expansion is expected to be completed by early 2014. Earl Swensson Associates is project architect. Skanska is the project construction company.
Hospital administrators and board members are now considering the implications of the recent Christus Santa Rosa announcement to stop offering adult services at its downtown facility and how it may further extend growth plans for Metropolitan Methodist Hospital.
About Metropolitan Methodist Hospital
Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, a campus of Methodist Hospital, is a 330-bed hospital that provides a complete range of health care services to residents of downtown San Antonio and the surrounding area, including Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills and Olmos Park. The facility is accredited by the Joint Commission in stroke care and is designated as an accredited Chest Pain Center. It is the only hospital in San Antonio with a Breast Center that staffs a certified breast patient navigator by the National Consortium of Breast Centers. The hospital campus includes a free-standing women’s pavilion, the only free standing facility in downtown San Antonio completely dedicated to the health of women and their newborn babies. The hospital just expanded its campus by adding the new Metropolitan Methodist Gateway medical office building and is will break ground soon on a $50 million expansion, to include a multi-story critical care tower and operating rooms.