KU Hospital will expand its patient tower project
With patient numbers running high, the University of Kansas Hospital said Monday that it will add four floors to a patient building now under construction.
The Cambridge North Patient Tower, across 39th Street from the main hospital in Kansas City, Kan., was initially planned as a seven-story building with 92 patient beds and 12 operating rooms. It was designed to accommodate four additional floors that could be built later.
“Our patient volume has been so strong the new building will be full as soon as it opens in 2017,” hospital president and CEO Bob Page said in a statement. “So, we are going to keep the construction crane on site after the building opens and continue building.”
The additional floors will be completed in 2018. One floor will be prepared immediately for patients, providing an additional 32 beds. The three remaining floors will be completed as needed.
The patient tower will house the hospital’s neurosciences and surgical oncology programs, including ear, nose and throat cancers, and will have imaging and laboratory facilities and a pharmacy. A 2,100-space parking garage is planned nearby.
The hospital had set a goal of $100 million in philanthropy for the original $270 million project, including a $10 million challenge grant from civic leader and philanthropist Annette Bloch. The addition adds $50 million to the cost, but the hospital will keep the $100 million giving goal.
Since breaking ground last year, more than $42 million has been raised for the project.
Alan Bavley: 816-234-4858, @AlanBavley
This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 12:09 PM with the headline "KU Hospital will expand its patient tower project."