FORT HOOD, TEXAS — The ceremonial groundbreaking has been held for the new Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. The $534 million project will replace the current medical center, which was originally built in 1965.
The U.S. Army Medical Command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will develop the new medical center on 70 acres near the original hospital. At 947,000 square feet, the new center is 60 percent larger than the current one. The new facility will feature a six-story hospital tower, three outpatient specialty clinic buildings and three parking garages.
Of note, the new hospital will feature expanded behavioral health services, pediatrics, and maternity facilities. The number of patient beds will increase from 128 to 151, and the size of the operating rooms will increase. The new medical center will also be seeking LEED-Gold certification. The general contractor is a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Construction and McCarthy Building Companies. The projects architects are HKS Architects and Wingler & Sharp.
According to Fort Hood officials, the new Darnall Medical Center is the largest project in the Department of Defense's medical construction program and the largest DOD project to be financed with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is also not the only healthcare construction Fort Hood is completing. Within the next six months, three community-based primary care clinics will open in the neighboring cities of Killeen, Harker Heights and Copperas Cove. Construction for the new medical center will officially begin this spring and open for patients in the summer of 2015.
Darnall Medical Center is the second military replacement hospital to be announced in less than a month. On December 2, the groundbreaking was held for the replacement Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton in California. The $394 million project will consist of a 500,000-square-foot facility that will replace the base's 37-year old medical center. It will open in 2014.
— Coleman Wood