Banner Estrella Completes $161M Expansion

PHOENIX, Ariz. — An expansion project at Banner Estrella Medical Center, in Phoenix, Arizona, has doubled the capacity of its emergency room and its maternity department, among other elements, and is now complete.

The $161-million expansion project included construction of a six-story patient tower, two multi-level parking garages, expanded emergency room and interior renovations to existing spaces.

Ground was broken on a second patient tower in August 2012, taking the campus from 214 to now 305 licensed beds and the ability to offer up to 374 beds as demand for services grows. The entire first floor of the new, second patient tower is dedicated to supporting maternity services, including a 20-bed nursery built to neonatal intensive care standards, new postpartum rooms and labor and delivery rooms featuring soaking tubs for laboring patients. The first floor also features a dedicated outdoor garden area. The second floor created a new space for cardiac catheterization labs, a special procedures room and dialysis unit and endoscopy suite.

The third floor created 36 additional private rooms for general medical and surgery patients. The fourth floor provides an additional 36 rooms for maternity patients when patient demand warrants opening it. The fifth and sixth floors have only their exterior walls complete, with no interior walls or finishes. These “shelled” floors will also provide space for future growth.

Once the patient tower phase was complete, the project focused on adding an additional 8,415 square feet to the ED and renovating the existing area on target to treat 100,000 patients in 2015.

McCarthy Building Companies was the general contractor and SmithgroupJJR served as architect.