"Fundraising for the first phase was going better than anticipated and our revenue was up, so we decided to launch a second phase," Mercy spokesperson Don Collins explains to GlobeSt.com. "We raised the funds, but that's not the main reason behind the new expansion project. The increase in demand for services made us decide to invest the money in this way." The hospital has experienced a 17% increase in emergency services since 1999, and over 50,000 patients are expected to come into the emergency room annually.

At the Mercy Medical Center campus--which has been located at 301 St. Paul Street since its inception over 125 years ago--construction will add surgical services and three operating rooms. The hospital is increasingly becoming known as a preeminent women's health services facility. The new development project also calls for renovations and additions to the hospice unit and long-term patient care rooms at the Stella Maris/Mercy Ridge campus, located at 2300 Dulaney Valley Road in Timonium, MD.

Upon construction completion, Stella Maris/Mercy Ridge will have more than 400 senior living apartments and 47 assisted living units. Finally, the $42 million will allow Mercy to relocate its physician billing and support services departments, currently housed outside the city in White Marsh, to a new 25,000-sf space at the 15-acre Tide Point development.

Mercy will occupy offices in the 400,000-sf, five-structure office development's Dawn Building. As for further construction projects down the road--such as an unforeseen Phase III and Phase IV--Collins says there are no additional development plans scheduled at the moment, but "never say not to further expansion."