Memorial Hospital President Larry Tracy understood the symbolism behind the courtyard where Beacon Health System held its ceremonial groundbreaking for the hospital’s new 10-story patient tower.
“You may not know this, but you are all standing in the area where the patient tower is going to be,” Tracy said. “This overall project is a major campus redevelopment.”
More than 100 Beacon associates and community leaders joined the Memorial president on Tuesday to break ground on the hospital’s new patient tower on the Memorial Hospital campus in downtown South Bend.
The largest project in Memorial’s 129-year history will modernize both the hospital and healthcare in the region by adding more adult acute care beds, expanding the Intensive Care Unit, enhancing technologies and creating larger patient rooms.
“This entire project incorporates other major improvements, such as opening a brand-new inpatient pharmacy to support the entire campus,” Tracy said. “We also have major electrical, plumbing and other infrastructure support, and we are currently reconstructing the sixth floor, which serves as a set of dominos to let other things happen. Without these other projects, the patient tower wouldn’t be possible.”
Designed by CannonDesign and constructed by Walsh Construction, the new patient tower is expected to create an estimated 500 new jobs. The tower is expected to be completed in late 2025 and ready for occupation in early 2026.
The list of speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included:
Larry Tracy
President, Memorial Hospital
Thomas Burish, PhD
Chairman, Beacon Health System Board of Directors
James Mueller
Mayor, City of South Bend
Michelle Thompson, MD
Hospitalist Medical Director, Memorial Hospital
Matthew Koscielski, MD
ICU and Pulmonary Services Medical Director, Memorial Hospital
Sarah Samson, D.Min, M. Div, BCC
Reverend Doctor, Support Services Coordinator at Memorial Hospital