As part of a $953 million regionwide expansion, St. David’s HealthCare is building full-service general hospitals in the fast-growing suburbs of Kyle and Leander.
St. David’s says it’s spending $185 million on the new Kyle-area hospital and $142.5 million on the new Leander hospital. Officials with the healthcare system laid out the $953 million expansion plan on February 15. In all, the initiative will create more than 900 new full-time jobs.
St. David’s is working on buying land for the Kyle-area hospital. The 160,000-square-foot, 34-bed facility, which will create about 200 full-time jobs, is set to open in 2024.
The Kyle-area hospital will offer a 24-hour emergency department, inpatient and outpatient surgery, critical care, robotic medical services, and maternity and newborn services.
The new hospital will serve the swelling population of Kyle, which grew 63 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Leander hospital will be built at an existing St. David’s medical complex on San Gabriel Parkway. The 150,000-square-foot, 34-bed facility, which will create about 200 jobs, is scheduled to open in 2024.
Like the Kyle-area hospital, the Leander facility will include a 24-hour emergency department, inpatient and outpatient surgery, critical care, robotic medical services, and maternity and newborn services.
And outpacing the growth seen in Kyle, the population of Leander grew 123 percent from 2010 to 2020, the Census Bureau says, necessitating the new hospital facility.
Other components of the St. David’s HealthCare expansion plan include:
- $249 million for renovation and expansion of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. This includes the addition of 34 beds for patients.
- $145.9 million for renovation and expansion of St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. This includes a 166,369-square-foot expansion of the St. David’s Women’s Center of Texas.
- $80 million to build future capacity at area hospitals to accommodate population growth.
- $53.1 million for expansion of St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.
- $43 million for renovation and expansion of St. David’s Medical Center.
- $33.8 million for a new 80-bed behavioral health hospital near St. David’s North Austin Medical Center.
- $20.9 million for expansion of the Heart Hospital of Austin.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly compounded the challenges our region is facing, there was already a need for more physical capacity in our existing hospitals to care for patients, as well as additional services in our community, including behavioral health services,” says David Huffstutler, president and CEO of St. David’s HealthCare.
“And, as the population growth in Central Texas continues to expand into outlying areas, this has created the need for us to establish additional sites of care in those areas,” Huffstutler continues. “These needs will only increase in the future with the ongoing, rapid growth of Central Texas. As a result, we are initiating plans to build two new hospitals, embarking on the construction of a new behavioral health hospital, as well as plans for multiple expansion and renovation projects to ensure we can continue our mission to provide exceptional care to every patient every day.”
Austin-based St. David’s HealthCare is a partnership among for-profit healthcare provider HCA Healthcare and two local nonprofits, the St. David’s Foundation and the Georgetown Health Foundation.
The new Leander hospital is scheduled to open in 2024.
