New design moves most patient care across Main Street, addresses future needs, and delivers better access for patients
*Please note: The Master Plan has been amended since the publication of this article. Continue to visit YestoJPS.org for the latest JPS Bond Program news.*
JPS recently unveiled a draft version of the master plan for the JPS Bond Program, the $800 million project which will redefine the JPS main campus and create a new hospital complex. In addition to the taxpayer-funded bond construction program, JPS will invest another $400 million toward capital improvements which will add complementary projects in a combined effort to upgrade the main campus. Planners say the current master plan will evolve as developers carry out their work, but the overall objective is to create facilities for JPS Health Network to serve Tarrant County residents for the next half century.
The modernization and expansion at JPS will entail a reimagining of the main campus that will ultimately shift most patient care operations onto the east side of Main Street, highlighted by the new hospital complex connected to the Patient Care Pavilion, which opened in 2008. Along the way, the project will produce at least eight entirely new buildings or parking structures, expand two existing structures, and create additional surface parking.
A PHASED APPROACH
Initial plans for the main campus have divided the overall project into four distinct phases. Before work can begin on the centerpiece of the project, the new hospital, the JPS Program Team has to complete several “enabling projects” that pave the way for the major construction.
“The main hospital, that’s really more of a Phase 3 project, because we need to get other infrastructure in place first,” says Darrick Walls, Program Director for the Bond Program. “The parking, the Central Utility Plant, and the connector to the Pavilion, those are things that need to happen first. Then we’ll add the main hospital base and towers.”
PHASE 1
One of the key pieces of infrastructure scheduled for Phase 1 is a new co-generation Central Utility Plant (CUP), which will have the capacity to deliver power, heating, and cooling with much more efficiency to the entire JPS main campus. “We want to get started on that early, so that as our new facilities come online, those can be components of that Central Utility Plant that can be added,” says Walls.
“The Central Utility Plant will give JPS much better sustainability in terms of energy and resource management,” says Adam Lane, Vice President and Chief Facilities Management Officer at JPS. “Just as important, the plant will provide much better redundancy in all critical systems for the entirety of the main campus."
“The main hospital, that’s really more of a Phase 3 project, because we need to get other infrastructure in place first.”
Another important piece of Phase 1 is the expansion project for the Patient Care Pavilion, which will extend that building to the north and create the needed infrastructure to eventually connect it to the new hospital.
Also in Phase 1, construction will begin on a new 400,000 square-foot Medical Office Building and Ambulatory Surgery Center to be located on Magnolia Avenue. The building will host many services currently provided at the JPOC buildings, along with some retail space. The Medical Office Building will go up on the site that is now the JPOC parking lot.
“Magnolia Avenue is important to the Near South Side revitalization of Fort Worth, and JPS is fortunate to be along that corridor, so we want to make sure that we take all of those cues from a design and retail standpoint, and take into consideration how we fit with our neighbors,” said Walls.
The Program Team also plans a new building on the southwest side of the campus, along Allen Street at South Jennings Avenue, which will temporarily house the Psychiatric Emergency Center (PEC), which JPS leaders have identified as a critical short-term need.
Phase 1 will also create a great amount of additional parking, starting with a new 2600-space Parking Garage next to the Medical Office Building. Additionally, an expansion project for the Pavilion parking garage will see two more levels added atop the existing structure. More surface parking will be created on the west side of the campus once the abandoned Hemphill building is demolished, and at the green space on a temporary basis.
PHASE 2
The second phase of the JPS Bond Program includes the addition of a new Support Services building, which will function as the new home for administrative and non-medical team members, and will offer facilities for education and conferencing. The Support Services building will go up north of the green space along Main Street between Magnolia and Morphy.
Another addition outlined in Phase 2 is a new facility for Materials Management, Warehouse, and Laundry, envisioned to be built on the site of the Morphy Street garage. These supporting functions will have easy access to the main hospital complex, and will also direct delivery and service vehicle traffic away from most pedestrian and visitor traffic.
PHASE 3
Once those projects are underway, developers can begin construction on the new hospital complex, which comprises Phase 3 of the JPS Bond Program. Currently, the new hospital is envisioned as a large base building covering most of the green space, with potentially two patient towers rising out of the base. Walls says the need to have exterior windows in each of the 588 planned patient rooms means that two towers likely makes more sense for the design, but final determinations are yet to come.
While the new hospital will offer welcome improvements in modern technology and design, it will also be much more energy efficient than the existing hospital tower, giving JPS a more sustainable energy footprint overall.
Before the green space becomes the site of the new hospital, it will first be used as temporary parking during Phase 1, and as a construction materials holding or “lay-down” site in Phase 2. The land holds historical significance as the site of the former St. Joseph Hospital, Fort Worth’s first hospital, which closed in the 1990s. JPS bought the land in 2008. “The forethought of JPS to acquire that land gives us the ‘empty chair’ that we can utilize for the development of new facilities,” says Walls.
The new location of the hospital will feature a drive-up entrance on Main Street, allowing for easy patient access and for JPS to retain its Main Street physical address.
PHASE 4
Finally, in Phase 4, developers will build a new Behavioral Health Inpatient Hospital, at Main and Allen on the west side of Main Street, using portions of the existing hospital including the sky bridge which will connect it to the Emergency Department in the Pavilion. When completed, the BH Hospital will also house the Psychiatric Emergency Center, and the building originally created for the PEC will be repurposed.
“The size of the Behavioral Health Hospital is still undetermined, but for sure, it will be more than 250 beds or so,” says Walls.
Phase 4 should mark the end of major construction and the final settlement of the main campus, with demolition of old facilities and cleanup completed, and the restoration of green spaces on the campus.
PLAN FOR ACTION
Throughout the life of the JPS Bond Program project, developers will continue to monitor data and trends and could adjust the bond construction program plans to better fit with emerging realities. The complex and demanding task of designing healthcare facilities to meet changing needs will mean the master plan and the project itself will be dynamic, with changes ongoing until it is completed.
The master plan will soon turn into action, as the first of the Phase 1 projects are expected to be released for bidding in December and into the first quarter of 2022. Soon thereafter, construction cranes, bulldozers and concrete trucks will become regular sights on the main campus. Planners advise that once underway, the ongoing work will also create many changes in access, parking, and walking paths for JPS team members and visitors, all temporary adjustments in the pursuit of progress.
By project’s end, planners envision a far more accessible main campus for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and a far more connected facility which will enable improved and integrated delivery of medical services for patients. And most importantly, the project will set up JPS Health Network to better meet the needs of patients and families of Tarrant County for the foreseeable future.
JPS Master Plan (Main Campus) at a glance | |
PHASE 1 | |
Medical Office Building & Ambulatory Surgery Center | Magnolia Ave. west of S. Main St. |
Psychiatric Emergency Center (PEC) | W. Allen Ave. at S. Jennings Ave. |
Central Utility Plant | north of Pavilion parking garage |
Patient Care Pavilion expansion/connector | north of Pavilion, toward green space |
Pavilion parking garage expansion | two new upper decks atop structure |
New Parking Garage | JPOC parking lot site |
Surface parking | Hemphill building site |
Surface parking | Current green space site |
PHASE 2 | |
Support Services building | Main St. at Magnolia Ave |
Materials Management / Warehouse / Laundry building | Morphy St. garage site |
PHASE 3 | |
New Hospital | Current green space site |
PHASE 4 | |
Behavioral Health (BH) Inpatient Hospital | W. Allen at S. Main St. |