Officials with John Peter Smith Health Network, along with Fort Worth and Tarrant County officeholders, broke ground on a brand-new 1.1 million-square-foot hospital April 16, starting the final construction project of a massive overhaul to the Fort Worth-based hospital network.
The new and updated facility will expand the hospital capacity for Tarrant County residents and bring advanced clinical technology to campus, according to a hospital news release.
“We are building more than a hospital,” said D.T. Nguyen, chair of the JPS board of managers. “We are building a promise that never closes its door: A promise that every person who walks through those doors will be treated with dignity and compassion.”
The new hospital will be at the corner of South Main and East Morphy streets in Fort Worth and is expected to open in 2030.
Two-minute impact
JPS Health Network is Tarrant County’s main tax supported health care system and provides care to all county residents, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay, its website states.
The system’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment from 2023 shows it serves residents from 96 county ZIP codes and 19 cities and entities, including Fort Worth and Keller.
The new hospital alone will cost $1.5 billion and includes constructing a new inpatient facility that will house advanced clinical technology and expanding the existing pavilion that’s part of the current hospital to replace aging infrastructure.
The initiative is partially funded by the $800 million bond passed by nearly 82% of Tarrant County voters in 2018, per previous reporting.
In addition to the new hospital, Medical Home Southwest Tarrant, a primary care clinic, opened in 2024 at 5001 Mesa Springs Drive in Fort Worth. A psychiatric emergency unit opened at 1652 May St in 2025. A 2,500-space parking garage at 175 W. Magnolia Ave. was completed in March.
Zooming in
The need for the JPS expansion stems from recent growth in the county, particularly in Fort Worth, JPS Chief Operating Officer Jill Farrell said.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Fort Worth is the 10th-largest city in the U.S. with more than 1 million residents as of July 2025, an increase of nearly 20,000 residents from July 2024.
The new hospital will have two patient-room towers that will o er emergency, trauma and surgical services. It will have 740 beds with room to expand to 800 for increased emergency room visits, Farrell said. The current hospital at 1500 S. Main St. in Fort Worth has 582 beds.
Becker’s Hospital Review, a health care trade publication that publishes submitted data from hospitals nationwide, ranked JPS sixth in the country in emergency department visits for 2025. In 2024, JPS ranked 13th.
What they're sayingFort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said at the groundbreaking that JPS and its workforce are responsible for helping support the future of city and Tarrant County residents through its care.
Dr. Brian Webb, an orthopaedic surgeon who has been with JPS for 24 years, said the expansion will improve patient care by removing physical barriers and distances for medical personnel.
The new layout, which will include a skywalk connecting the hospital to the medical outpatient building and parking garage, will allow medical teams to easily connect rather than work in isolated silos. The enhanced communication and advances in technology are designed to provide a smoother process for patients who are admitted to the hospital and might need follow-up care at another on-campus facility.
“We’re building something that directly changes how care is delivered, how teams work together and how patients experience healing,” Webb said.
Webb added that the expansion is also an investment in education, since JPS is a major teaching institution with its fellowship and residency programs.
JPS’s 2025 report to the community states its system directly contributes to the local economy by supporting housing, childcare, dining and small businesses.
"[This] will be a hospital that represents hope, access, opportunity and world-class healthcare that's available to everyone, no matter who you are,” Parker said.
By the numbers
Farrell said more bonds will not be called to compensate for the $2.5 billion price tag. Instead, the hospital will rely on funding from Medicare, Medicaid, private donations and insurance companies to go through its operations to make up the additional $1.7 billion needed to complete the expansions.
“A lot of our nances come from various sources. Taxpayers account for less than a third of our revenue,” Farrell said.
In September 2025, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to lower the hospital’s residential tax rate for the third time in three years. The 2026 tax rate is now $0.165 per $100 valuation for county residents, including those in Fort Worth, Keller and a small portion of Roanoke.
The 2018 hospital tax rate was $0.2244 per $100 valuation, meaning this new rate is a 26.47% decrease in accrued property taxes to JPS.
What's next?Farrell said construction began on the new hospital a few weeks after the groundbreaking and there will be room for expansion given how Tarrant County’s population is growing.
Other facilities that will open at a later date include the Health Center for Women, a new medical outpatient building and a central utility plant, according to previous reporting.
The Health Center for Women facility will open in December and will provide comprehensive services for women, according to the JPS Master Plan. It will be housed in the same structure as the parking garage.
In 2029, the medical outpatient building and central utility plant are expected to be finished. The central utility plant will house the infrastructure to power the hospital, and the medical outpatient building will house clinics, an ambulatory surgery center, laboratories and a retail pharmacy, according to the JPS Master Plan.
The new hospital will be completed in 2030 as the last piece of the expansion. The existing tower will remain in use until the new ER is completed and will be repurposed at a later date, Farrell said.
“Part of this master facility plan is allowing for future growth,” Farrell said. “There will be room to add a third tower, a fourth tower, whatever the future holds for the network.”
