PLANO, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Children’s Medical Center Plano just opened a new eight-story tower — but hospital leaders are already turning their attention to the next major project.
The 395,000-square-foot tower at 7601 Preston Road opened Dec. 12, according to an announcement. Construction on the facility, designed by HKS and built by Vaughn Construction, began in 2021.
The tower features advanced imaging equipment, 140 inpatient beds, 48 emergency rooms and 12 operating rooms. The expansion enhances care for families in North Texas by introducing new specialties on the campus such as neurology, gastroenterology and pulmonology, while also establishing centers for heart care, cancer and blood disorders.
With the new tower open, hospital leaders are shifting their focus to renovations of roughly 70,000 square feet of existing campus space. The scope of the work will include enhancing the imaging, sterile processing and laboratory departments, and relocating the emergency department to the newly opened tower. The initiative will also include four additional shell spaces for future operating rooms, as well as the expansion of preoperative areas and surgical suites.
The project, with Vaughn Construction once again at the helm, is expected to finish in early 2026, a spokesperson for Children’s Health said in an emailed statement.
The renovations at Children’s Medical Center Plano are part of a plan to help the hospital become a level II trauma center. Currently, it is a level IV center, but officials expect it to be upgraded to a level III designation by the end of this year or early in 2025. That would complement the health care system's level I trauma center in Dallas, which is the only one of its kind in the Metroplex.
The designation is based on response times, equipment and specialized services. The state conducted a survey for this designation in September.
"The new tower enables us to provide increased access and enhanced care for patients and their families in the heart of their own communities," Vanessa Walls, chief market executive for Children’s Medical Center Plano, said in a statement.
Expansion of the 180-acre Children’s Medical Center Plano exemplifies the immense health care investments coursing through North Texas amid rapid population growth. Other key projects include a $5 billion pediatric campus by UT Southwestern and Children’s Health in Dallas, the $343 million expansion of Texas Health Plano and a new Texas Health Resources hospital in Forney.
The demand for pediatric care is especially notable, with more than 2 million children currently requiring services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This number is projected to surpass 3 million by 2032 and double by 2050, according to data from UT Southwestern.
