Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health is spending more than $2 billion to develop two facilities to replace its existing Inova Alexandria (Va.) Hospital.
The current 302-bed, acute care hospital has served the community since 1872 and "needs replacement," Heather Russell, vice president of eastern region development for Inova, told Becker's.
"We've worked for over a decade to plan for this," Ms. Russell said. "From, 'can we renovate it and keep those beds open' to 'can we replace it on the same site.' We can't."
After a 10-year search, the health system found two areas that could provide a modern and expanded version of the current hospital's services.
The first, the Inova Alexandria Hospital at Landmark, will be located around one mile from the existing Alexandria Hospital on the grounds of the former Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Va.
The new campus will feature a 192-bed inpatient hospital, the Inova Schar Cancer Institute at Alexandra Hospital and a specialty care center. Retail stores, restaurants, apartments, condominiums, town homes and a fire station will also be located onsite.
The second site, Inova Franconia-Springfield (Va.) Hospital, will be an inpatient facility with 110-beds that expand across two patient towers. It will comprise an expanded emergency room, multiple procedural rooms and outpatient services, diagnostic imaging and private patient rooms.
Inova is also developing a health center just south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., that will be completed Nov. 6. In total, the health center and two hospitals will cost Inova around $2.5 billion.
"We've designed these facilities to allow [for] and to anticipate the future equipment and technology…that we don't even know about," Ms. Russell said. "Throughout the design, you'll see that the spaces have minimal fixed items, so that we can easily adapt to what we need to adapt as innovation and technology continues to improve over the next 30 to 50 years."
Once the two facilities are complete, the existing Alexandria hospital will be taken down for the land to be rezoned and sold for housing. The land has been cleared on both sites, with construction expected to be complete by 2028. Employees at the current Alexandria hospital will be relocated to the two hospitals, with 100 additional jobs to be created and split accordingly.
When asked about any future projects in the pipeline for Inova, Ms. Russell said the health system is constantly looking for new ways to serve the community.
"A lot of focus will start to switch as we get these buildings up and look at any other possible needs," she said. "On the ambulatory setting side, [the focus will be on] consolidating and creating health centers in key strategic areas."