KU Hospital Begins Constructing Patient Tower

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The University of Kansas (KU) Hospital kicked off construction of its new, 92-bed Cambridge North Patient Tower on March 9. The $280 million building is situated just northeast of the existing hospital buildings.

The seven-story facility will house 12 operating rooms and two of the fastest-growing specialty areas at the hospital: neurosciences and surgical oncology, including ear, nose and throat cancers. It will also include imaging, lab and pharmacy services. Its 92 beds will include 28 intensive care beds.

CannonDesign of Grand Island, N.Y., served as the project’s designer and Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn Construction will oversee the construction process.

“Welcome to the future of The University of Kansas Hospital,” said Bob Page, president and CEO of The University of Kansas Hospital, in a statement. “We have seen an increase in demand for our outstanding clinical services. We have had a full hospital with record patient demand for the last three months. It has meant we are using all our creativity to provide patients with the high-quality services they are seeking. It also means we need the beds and operating rooms Cambridge North will provide to meet patient demand.”

The project went through extensive active utility relocations while maintaining uninterrupted patient care, coordination with multiple campus projects and student activities in adjacent facilities, according to JE Dunn Construction’s website. The building features a modular skin system, which involved constructing the steel frame off site, shipping and erecting it on site, and then mounting prefabricated curtain wall panels.

The University of Kansas Hospital has seen patient volume grow 30 percent in the last five years, according to Page. Its fastest growing services — neurosciences and surgical oncology — have grown nearly 40 percent over that period.

The hospital receives no state or local tax appropriations since it became an independent state authority in 1998.

It was announced in 2014 that the project’s goal was to raise $100 million through philanthropy. So far, the effort has raised $36.6 million. That includes a $10 million challenge grant from philanthropist Annette Bloch. Bloch, president of R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., announced a dollar-for-dollar match on all gifts made to the Cambridge North Tower through June 2016. The funds will go toward cancer programs at the tower. The hospital reported it has raised nearly $4 million toward the challenge.

“We are doing much more than constructing a new building. We are building this hospital as we put Kansas City on the national medical map. Great cities have great academic hospitals. If we want Kansas City to be a top 10 city, we need this hospital, The University of Kansas Hospital — Kansas City’s great academic hospital — to be a top 10 hospital,” said Greg Graves, chairman and CEO of Burns & McDonnell, in a statement. Graves and his wife Deanna are leading the fundraising effort for Cambridge North.