The ceremony celebrated the milestone with the hoisting of a commemorative steel beam covered with hundreds of handwritten signatures. A “topping out” ceremony, as defined in the construction world, mimics a groundbreaking ceremony except it marks placing the last beam atop a structure during construction.
“Today we celebrate the rebirth of the iconic O’Quinn Medical Tower, as part of the continued development of our new medical campus,” St. Luke's Health CEO Doug Lawson said in a June 24 news release. “The completion of the tower’s structure is a significant milestone as we move toward advancing our position as a high-performing health system within Texas.”
The 12-story tower, when completed in 2023, will serve as the health system’s new clinical home for the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and will offer radiation therapy and other diagnostic and treatment services, as well as multiple specialized oncology clinics and an infusion center, in addition to multiple outpatient services including radiology, endoscopy, and an ambulatory surgery center.
The O’Quinn Medical Tower will also be part of the expanding McNair Campus, which will boast more than 400,000 square feet of space to support and provide personalized care to patients and families. The campus will eventually include another hospital bed tower and ambulatory care center.
The McNair Campus sits directly adjacent to the planned site of TMC3, Texas Medical Center’s new 37-acre campus that will be located between Old Spanish Trail and the Brays Bayou.
