WHAT WE REPORTED A $50 million expansion is slated to take place at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center as part of more than $275 million in investments, St. David’s HealthCare announced May 13. The hospital on Ben White Boulevard will hire 50 new full-time employees in the first year.

The center will add a 26,000-square-foot sixth floor on top of its South Tower for a new 34-bed medical and surgical unit. On top of that, a seventh floor will be built as shell space for future growth. The emergency department will also grow by nearly 14,000 square feet.

THE LATEST The site plan for a parking garage associated with the project—a new addition since the May announcement—has been filed with the city, said Kevin Scoggin, chief operating officer of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. The $8 million expansion to the north of the existing garage brings the project estimate total to $58 million, he said.

“We anticipate submitting this next site plan in probably early 2017,” he said.

WHAT’S NEXT  Design is underway for improvements, and construction will likely begin around mid-2017 with an 18-24-month build schedule wrapping up in early 2019, Scoggin said.

“This is a significant expansion for us.  We’ve had a tremendous amount of programmatic growth in our oncology and trauma service lines,” he said.