Although the construction of the Cambridge North Patient Tower at the University of Kansas Hospital is still in progress, the hospital has decided to expand the project, according to Lawrence Journal-World.
Plans for the new seven-story tower were announced in 2014. It would add 92 beds and 12 operating rooms, with the ability to construct four additional floors in the future. However, because of increasingly high patient volume, the KU Hospital board has voted to keep construction equipment on site and begin building the four additional floors immediately after completion of the first project, according to the report.
Construction of the new tower is slated for 2017, and the additional floors are expected to open to patients in 2018. One of the additional floors will be immediately prepared for patients, with the other three "shelled in" for expansion down the road, according to the report.
The originally $270 million project has now risen to $320 million, with a large portion of the funding coming from donations. Out of its goal to raise $100 million through philanthropy, KU Hospital has raised $42 million since breaking ground, according to the report.