The Houston Methodist Hospital System is moving 250 administrative employees from the Texas Medical Center to Katy this year, officials announced. Peyton Elliott, vice president and chief operating officer of the Houston Methodist West Hospital, said the 250 employees work in the administrative office, central business office and billing and collections department. “They’re a relocation, not new jobs,” Elliott said. “These are corporate employees. They are going to be located at the Houston Methodist St. Catherine location.” The new St. Catherine facility is a 30,000-square foot building located at 701 S. Fry Road. The building formerly housed the Christus-St. Catherine Hospital but was purchased by the Houston Methodist Hospital System in 2014. Elliott said moving the employees to the new building will be positive for the local economy and will be beneficial to employees who may live in the Katy area. “I think it’s a good thing,” Elliott said . “The feedback from employees was favorable. This is probably an easier location to recruit to. It’s certainly got to be good for restaurants.” With plans for an estimated $177 million in new construction and improvements to the Houston Methodist West medical campus, Elliott said the health care provider will likely add a significant number of new jobs over the next several years. “Both Houston Methodist West and St. Catherine have plans for future growth,” he said. “Both our current campus and St. Catherine have the capacity for more employees.” The hospital system is a member of the Katy Area Economic Development Council, and Elliott said officials were appreciative of the help the KAEDC provided for the employee relocation. KAEDC President and CEO Lance LaCour said health care jobs are helping the Katy area offset losses in the oil and gas industry. “The impact is going to be strong,” LaCour said. “We had a lot of discussions about how that [St. Catherine] facility would develop.” There is an estimated $400 million in health care construction and projects in the KAEDC boundaries, including expansions at Memorial Hermann, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist West, LaCour said. “Health care in a lot of ways is floating the boat in the way of job diversification,” LaCour said. “By providing more diversification of our economy, it’s great that we got back office jobs that we lost. We need these sort of jobs with the current situation.” Memorial Hermann—which just opened the new East Tower at their Katy campus—may build a new office building and has other plans in the works, LaCour said. The health care surge is helpful with so many people losing their jobs in the oil and gas industry. “[Memorial Hermann] is in the process of hiring another 150 employees,” he said. “We’re looking at ways people can move in and out of [different] fields of employment.”