The background
In 2021, University Health purchased 42.5 acres in Selma for $11.6 million to be used for a new hospital.
The new facility will be one of three new hospitals in the San Antonio area by University Health.
University Health officials said the goal for the system is to create a wagon wheel-type system in which University Hospital, located in the South Texas Medical Center, will be the hub while the three new hospitals will serve as “supports, or spokes,” on the outskirts of the city.
The Selma hospital will be called University Health Retama Hospital.
What residents should know
According to a University Health news release, University Health Retama Hospital will be a full-service, advanced hospital, featuring 166 inpatient beds. The hospital will also have the room to be expanded to accommodate 286 beds as the community grows.
Service will include:
- 24/7 emergency department
- Labor and delivery unit
- Neonatal intensive care unit
- Inpatient units
- Operating rooms
- Radiology
- Pharmacy
- Lab services
Looking ahead
The hospital has an estimated completion of early 2027, according to the release.
To help prepare for the new hospital and ancillary offices, Selma staff is working on a reconstruction project for Retama Parkway that is scheduled to begin this summer, City Administrator Johnny Casias said.
“The University Health Retama Hospital will be instrumental in serving the health care needs of this area in Northeast Bexar County but also the ever-growing IH-35 corridor,” Casias said. “We are pleased that [University Health] chose the city of Selma, and we are looking forward to a perpetual partnership. Lastly, from a job and economic development perspective, [University Health] is planning to create 500 to 600 jobs, which will make [University Health] one of the top employers in Selma and this region.”
