Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin will be building three more floors than it had originally planned to its new Center for Advanced Care in Wauwatosa.
Currently under construction in Wauwatosa, the Center for Advanced Care will be a total of eight floors when completed, said Kathy Sieja, media relations director at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The facility is slated for completion in fall 2015.
“When we obtained approval for the building from the City of Wauwatosa in fall 2012, we noted the need for flexibility to accommodate future growth,” she said. “The Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Center for Advanced Care is intended to help manage serious capacity constraints at the academic medical center. We’re continuing to experience strong demand for outpatient services, and the inpatient occupancy rate at Froedtert Hospital is among the highest in the state, averaging about 85% annually.
“Rather than delay addressing the situation until space needs become critical, we opted to build shells now for three additional patient care floors in the Center for Advanced Care. A fourth level will be mechanical space. Doing so now while construction is underway is the most cost-effective option and avoids the multi-million-dollar cost of another building in the future. This is consistent with our longstanding criteria for construction planning, which is to add capacity only when demand financially supports a project.”
