By HFT Staff

Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center unveiled plans for a new $5 billion pediatric health campus in Dallas’ Southwestern Medical District. Spanning more than 33 acres, the new pediatric campus offers a patient-centric design that can meet the rapidly increasing need for more pediatric services ranging from the most common to the most complex. It will serve as a joint hub for innovation, academic research and training, and the development of lifesaving technologies to provide exemplary care for the youngest members of the community. 

The approximately two million-square-foot hospital will have two 12-story towers and one eight-story tower to replace the existing Children’s Medical Center Dallas, significantly expanding inpatient, surgical and ambulatory capacity to meet the needs of one of the fastest-growing and largest metropolitan areas in the country. The pediatric campus, expected to open in the next six to seven years, will be built on the UT Southwestern campus across from UTSW’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. 

Highlights of the project include: 

• 5 million square feet of construction 
• 552 beds (38 percent increase) with space for future expansion 
• Expanded emergency department space (15 percent) and operating rooms (22 percent) 
• Two helicopter pads 
• A Level I pediatric trauma center, 90 ER exam rooms, and 24 observation rooms 
• A connector bridge between the new campus and Clements University Hospital, ensuring continuity of care for babies with direct access to the pediatric expertise provided at the Children’s Health Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) 
• A new fetal care center to provide the region’s most advanced and accessible services for complex maternal and fetal health care, including fetal surgery capabilities at the adjoining Clements University Hospital 
• A new outpatient clinic building that will add 96 exam rooms to the 344 that will continue to operate at the existing Children’s Health Specialty Center Dallas outpatient facility on Stemmons Freeway at Medical District Drive