Memorial Hospital expansion to support continued regional growth
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe president of Memorial Hospital in South Bend says a $232 million patient tower project will provide additional support to a growing regional economy. Hospital parent Beacon Health System broke ground last December on the project, which will add a 10-story, 300,000-square-foot tower to the hospital campus, creating more than 50 additional adult acute care beds.
“An investment of this size is transformative in many ways,” said hospital President Larry Tracy. “It’s transformative to our community, in terms of the level of investment, the jobs that it generates, the economic impact that it has on the region. It’s also significant in what it represents about the future of health care delivery for Beacon Health System.”
In an interview with Business of Health Reporter Kylie Veleta, Tracy said the project fits into a revitalization of downtown South Bend, but also economic growth that is happening throughout St. Joseph County.
Tracy noted the increase in residential developments along the St. Joseph River and investments by South Bend Chocolate Co. founder Mark Tarner to develop the Indiana Dinosaur Museum on the city’s northwest side as some of the quality-of-place efforts to attract new residents and visitors.
But it’s also major projects such as the $3 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in New Carlisle from General Motors and Samsung SDI that will benefit from increased health care capacity.
“You’re talking about adding more population, which is going to require more health care services to be delivered in this region,” Tracy said. “And so this project actually fits very nicely with that overall development that’s happening. And of course, our friends just to the north of the Memorial campus at Notre Dame seem to be always growing in very positive and productive ways. It all sort of melds together in what we see as a very bright future for the South Bend region.”
Tracy said Memorial Hospital is the only Level II Trauma Center within a 90-mile radius, and the new patient tower will create a modern platform for the hospital to deliver critical care services.
“I’m excited for the patients and the families,” he said. “I’m also excited for our associates and for our physicians to be able to practice in a modern facility with lots of natural light, and to actually feel really good about the environment that they’re working in.”
Crews are expected to have the first beams of the tower coming out of the ground in the first quarter of 2024, Tracy said. The project is slated for completion in late 2025 with occupancy in the tower anticipated for early 2026.
The project is the latest development for Beacon Health, which in May opened the $15 million Surgery Center of Granger in conjunction with Elkhart-based Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center in Elkhart.