Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is adding 14 new operating rooms to the Richard O. Jacobson Building, according to the Post Bulletin.
The hospital's surgery department is taking over all 37,000 square feet of the building's ground level, which has been unused since it was built on the Rochester campus in 2015.
The construction project will begin Oct. 17, with a ceremonial demolition of a wall by the clinic's surgical staff, according to the report.
Mayo Clinic is adding the new operating rooms to accommodate the growing surgery department, according to Michael Kendrick, MD, chair of subspecialty general surgery.
"Every year, we do more surgery than the year before, and the projection is that will continue," said Dr. Kendrick, according to the report. "The needs of ORs are changing every year. These will be larger and designed to accommodate more robots. Quite a few will be specifically designed for robots."
Mayo Clinic has not yet released an estimated cost for the project.