UCHealth Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Hospital broke ground on a $119 million expansion project, adding two new buildings to the hospital that is regularly at capacity.
On the top floor of an existing building, the hospital is adding 31,687 square feet of space for additional beds and operating rooms. The hospital is also building a 194,000-square-foot tower that will add 14 more emergency room beds, according to a July 24 UCHealth news release.
The hospital expects to complete the construction in late 2025. UCHealth officials said that they hope the added space keeps local patients from having to travel to Aurora, Colo.-based Anschutz Medical Campus.
"Our beds are full all the time, our operating rooms are fully booked," Merle Taylor, UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital president, told the Douglas County News-Press. "We do need more space and we are recognizing that people want to be here in this hospital."