Ascension Seton Williamson Medical Center is about to almost double in size.
On Thursday, community leaders and hospital staff broke ground on a six-story, 216,000-square-foot second tower being added to the existing Round Rock hospital.
That will provide an additional 160 beds to the 181-bed hospital. It will be a “copy and paste” of the existing tower with a glass common area connecting the two towers.
The $230 million project is expected to be completed by spring 2026. Ascension Seton had announced the project a year ago.
The growth of the hospital is really a reflection of the growth of Williamson County, said Ascension Seton Williamson President Andrew Gnann. “We’re just responding to that growing population,” he said.
The hospital is serving more than 50,000 patients annually and sees 50,000 emergency room visits by patients from 14 counties.
Originally opened in 2008, Ascension Seton Williamson expects this expansion to last 10 years, Gnann said, and to address some of the areas where the hospital has been stretched, including general medical surgical beds and beds where continual heart monitoring can be done. The new tower’s second floor will initially be left as a shell, with the idea of eventually expanding the intensive care unit, which is on the second floor of the existing tower.