AURORA | University of Colorado Hospital unveiled a new 12-story, 734,00-square-foot inpatient tower Monday at a ceremony held at the site.
The sprawling new facility on the Anschutz Medical Campus — dubbed Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion No. 2 — is part of a $400-million-expansion project and gives the hospital 144 more patient beds. For now it is home to several units, including the emergency department and a newly centralized cardiac care unit, among several others.
John Harney, president and CEO of the hospital, said the building gives the hospital ample room to grow, with four unfinished floors that can accommodate 132 more beds.
That space, Harney said, can be built to a particular unit’s needs when the demand arises, a rare luxury in the health care world.
“We are very fortunate,” he said before the ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday afternoon.
Work on the project started in 2011 and the emergency department on the new tower’s first floor opened in April, a month ahead of schedule.
Hospital officials said the expansion project created nearly 2,500 construction jobs on the campus and once the expansion is complete it will provide nearly 1,400 permanent jobs at UCH.
When the tower is finished, UCH will have a capacity of almost 700 beds among its two inpatient towers.