Friday, August 8, 2008

Hospital pegged for Lakeway



$250M-plus investment to yield 3,000 new jobs





Austin Business Journal - by Kate Harrington ABJ Staff

A massive hospital development could soon break ground in Lakeway and bring about 3,000 jobs to the area when built out, making it the city's largest project yet.

The Lakeway Regional Medical Center development, going through permitting with plans to open the hospital in two to three years, would include a 200,000-square-foot general hospital off Ranch Road 620 that city officials say is planned as trauma level II. Those behind the plan say more than $250 million will be invested to make the proposal a reality. The 54-acre development will include:

244,000 square feet of medical office space
a rehabilitation hospital with about 85 patient rooms for long-term acute care, convalescence and full-service therapy
an elder-care facility for 80 to 100 patients
30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space
an extended-stay hotel with 60 to 90 suites
and structured parking surrounded by amenities such as trails
According to the Lakeway Regional Medical Center development's Web site, the general hospital is planned to open with about 100 beds. One of the development's managing partners, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says the hospital will be able to expand to 200 beds. It will have an imaging center with an MRI, CT scanner and X-ray machine; a 16-bed emergency room and heliport; lab services; and an outpatient clinic. It will also include facilities for cardiovascular treatment, orthopedics, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, nephrology and dialysis, and an infusion center.

If it obtains a trauma level II designation, the new Lakeway hospital would be the second in the Austin area to do so; the other is the Seton Family of Hospitals' University Medical Center at Brackenridge.