As Katy prepares for the coming influx of 50,000 people over the next five years, local hospitals are making plans to expand themselves to meet the needs of the growing Katy community.
Methodist Hospital
The $300 million 192-bed facility will feature open heart surgery capability, an emergency room capable of treating 30,000 patients annually, 14 operating rooms, an imaging center, and labor and delivery services. The hospital will occupy half of its 86 acres; the other half will be used for expansions.
Wayne Voss, vice president of community operations and development of the Methodist Hospital System, says construction of the facility, which is located along the north side of the Katy Freeway between Barker Cypress and Greenhouse roads, will commence in April and should end by 2010.
The Methodist hospital will be built west of where Texas Children’s Hospital plans to build a pediatric hospital, which should coincidentally be completed in 2010.
“We felt it was good synergy being next to Texas Children’s,” said Voss. He adds that the location should allow better access to patients east of Katy.
St. Luke’s
St. Luke’s recently purchased 27 acres on the corner of Grand Parkway and Kingsland Boulevard where the new hospital will be built. The 100-bed facility will be part of The Reserve, being developed by Vista Equities Group. Plans and designs have not yet been established, says David Koontz, senior vice president of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Systems.
Texas Children’s
Plans are being made for a pediatric hospital on Barker Cypress and Katy Freeway. The $220 million, 350,000 square foot hospital will be built on 55 acres. The campus will be the first pediatric hospital in the Katy area.
The first phase of the project includes an ambulatory care facility with outpatient clinic and professional medical building, which should open in 2009. The following year, it will open a 24-hour emergency care center and have 48 beds. The hospital hopes to have 96 by 2015.