Baptist Health on Wednesday held a “topping out” ceremony at the 37-acre site in west Conway that will soon be home to its newest hospital.
Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway is scheduled to open with 111 beds in the spring of 2016 off Interstate 40 West. Baptist and local city officials on Wednesday marked the completion of the facility’s main steel structure.
When opened, Baptist Health-Conway will encompass 264,000 SF, more than originally planned, and feature a Level III trauma-center emergency room, eight operating rooms and an expanded women’s center with labor and delivery services.
Baptist Health broke ground on the site last summer, and in April named Jamie Carter administrator for the Conway hospital. The estimated current cost for the project is $170 million.
“It’s hard to believe that just one year ago we were here breaking ground for construction and now we are celebrating the topping-out for this facility,” Baptist Health CEO Troy Wells said in a news release. “It was exciting then, but even more so now as we place the symbolic final beam for our new hospital.”
Baptist Health collaborated with about 30 Conway-based physicians to design and develop the new hospital, officials said. The construction project has generated more than 250 jobs, and Baptist plans to hire 425 health-care professionals and staff members for the hospital, according to the release.
CDI is the general contractor for the Conway project, and the architect is GSR Andrade. Last month, Baptist announced plans to open urgent-care centers throughout central Arkansas.
“While this topping-out represents the physical structure, it means much more to our community,” Carter said. “This three-story medical center will address the health-care needs of Faulkner County and surrounding areas, which have experienced unprecedented population growth over the past 10 years.”
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