Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital announced Oct. 23 that it will break ground on five projects as part of a $131 million expansion, including its first Missouri City development and a new six-story patient tower.

"Fort Bend County has often lagged behind the community's needs for health care, and with the population expected to be 700,000 by 2018, the expansion helps us better serve the community," said Chris Siebenaler, CEO of Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital. "There is still a 35 to 36 percent migration out to Houston for medical care, so we want to grow to meet the demand for more services that are comparable to the Texas Medical Center but close to where they live."

The first of the major projectsa 9,600-square-foot emergency care center between the Sienna Plantation and Riverstone communitieshas broken ground and is expected to be complete in summer 2014. The center will house 10 treatment rooms and new diagnostic imaging equipment upon completion. It will give more direct medical services to Missouri City residents, Siebenaler said.

The six-story patient towerwhich will add 104 beds to the hospital's existing 235 bedswill be located between the Sweetwater and Main pavilions at the Sugar Land campus on Hwy. 59 and Sweetwater Boulevard and is expected to break ground in summer 2014. The project is slated for completion in early 2016.

As part of the expansion, Houston Methodist also has plans to add several new facilities and relocate some of its services to the Sugar Land campus. The existing orthopedics and sports medicine division that operates at Hwy. 6 and Brooks Street will relocate to a new 60,000-square-foot building to offer services such as physical therapy and a training facility for injured athletes. The new structure is expected to break ground in December and will be complete in early 2015.

A new 20,000-square-foot heart center facility is scheduled to break ground summer 2014 and is expected to be open in late 2015. The center will be closer to the hospital's emergency room and it will feature several catheterization suites as well as testing services for outpatients.

Houston Methodist is also in the process of renovating its birthing center within the Sweetwater Pavilion, which is expected to increase in capacity once the hospital's Cath Lab moves to its new location within the planned heart center.

"We are investing in Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital because Fort Bend [County] continues to grow in size and population and our patients are seeking an ever broader range of sophisticated medical and surgical treatments close to home," Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom said.

Additional reporting by Christine Hall.