Footprint, timeline for new Tacoma children’s hospital revised after pandemic reassessment
A plan for a new Tacoma children’s hospital now calls for a pediatric campus that includes a separate ambulatory center along with a new hospital tower.
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MultiCare’s Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital on Wednesday announced a revised timeline and changes to its $415 million project. The new campus is now scheduled to open for patient care in early 2026, revised from an earlier 2024 opening date.
The updated plans call for a new inpatient hospital tower and an ambulatory building that will include specialty clinics, urgent care services and behavioral health crisis management services.
The ambulatory building’s construction will start mid-2024.
The new plans reduce inpatient hospital square footage, from 300,000 to 250,000 square feet, with construction on that piece to begin mid-2023. New parking spots also will be reduced from 1,100 to 800 (450 for staff and 350 for patients and visitors), also to begin construction mid-2023.
The new buildings will be detached from the hospital’s existing outpatient center, according to the release.
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“By reallocating space from the planned inpatient tower to a new ambulatory building, Mary Bridge Children’s is creating a pediatric-focused medical campus that not only provides better access to care for patients, but also creates opportunities for future growth,” the hospital said in its release.
“The entrance for both acute and emergency services will be a single covered drop-off point accessible from Martin Luther King Jr. Way, providing easy access for pedestrians, vehicles and Sound Transit Hilltop Tacoma Link light rail riders,” the release noted.
Jeff Poltawsky, president and market leader of Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Network, said COVID-19 pandemic disruptions with staffing and global supply-chain issues led to a rethinking of plans and the original timeline set in 2021.
In July 2020, MultiCare announced plans to build a dedicated children’s hospital building, eventually moving out of the building it shares with MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital.
“We took this time to reassess our master plans for this once-in-a-generation opportunity and implemented additional feedback from physicians, staff and community members, as well as adjusted designs to reflect trends in medicine such as bringing more services into the outpatient space,” he said in the release.
“While this delay is unfortunate, we’re confident that it is the best way to improve access to care for the thousands of children who rely on us for their medical needs.”
Earlier this week, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network announced it would add Children’s Therapy at UW Medicine’s Valley Medical Center in Renton to its network starting Sept. 25.
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