Medical facility to be built near Texas Children’s proposed complex

By KIMBERLY PIÑA
Houston Chronicle Correspondent

Construction is expected to begin this month on the Methodist West Houston Hospital that is being built to serve a growing Katy-area population.

“We want to be able to bring the greatest health-care services to the west Houston market,” said Wayne Voss, vice president of community operations and development for the Methodist Hospital System.

Voss presented plans for the $300 million, 192-bed hospital and medical campus at the Katy Area Economic Development Council’s general assembly meeting Tuesday.

“Katy is developing quite a reputation as a medical area,” said Woody Mann Jr., board chairman of the Katy Area EDC. “We’ll be, I think, well-equipped with some quality hospitals.”

Strong demographics, an increasing population, ideal location and wide service area are reasons hospital officials cited in deciding to build the 500,000-square-foot hospital along the north side of the Katy Freeway between Barker Cypress and Greenhouse roads.

Hospital officials plan to have a formal topping-off ceremony next spring. Construction is expected to be completed by late 2010.

The hospital will be directly west of where Texas Children’s Hospital plans to build its pediatric facility. The $200-million Texas Children’s West Campus also is scheduled to break ground this year and be completed by 2010.

Leaders at Methodist previously considered building a hospital at land they purchased at the Grand Parkway and Katy Freeway, Voss said, but decided a better location would be next to Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Texas Children’s Hospital and Methodist have always related well in the (Texas) Medical Center and we felt there was a good synergy to move into the west Houston market together,” Voss said. No plans exist to develop the Grand Parkway site.

Methodist will open the new hospital by December 2010 with 112 beds and eventually will expand to include the full capacity of 192 beds, Voss said. The hospital will be built to accommodate growth and expansion, he said.

The hospital will feature a modern imaging center, 14 operating rooms, labor and delivery services, cancer treatment areas, open-heart surgery capability, orthopedics, a breast center and an emergency room with capacity to treat 30,000 patients annually.

In addition, imaging and radiation therapy will be available and two cardiac catheterization labs will open the first year with space to open a third lab in the future.

The hospital’s primary service area will range from the Sam Houston Tollway on the east to Brookshire on the west. Outlying areas to the north, south and east of Interstate 10 also will be served.

Once completed, the campus will include a six-story hospital, a six-story, 166,000-square-foot medical office building, a helicopter pad, a central utility plant, parking lots, detention ponds and landscaping.

Methodist owns 86 acres west of Barker Cypress along the Katy Freeway and plans on developing half of that space as part of the first phase of the hospital project.

In addition, Park Row is expected to extend west from Barker Cypress to Greenhouse to provide more access to the hospital.

Additional medical office buildings and parking garages will be constructed as the campus expands and to accommodate growth, Voss said.