Children's Breaks Ground on $458M Hospital

"Our vision is to create a resource for families and a health network for children," says Dori Biester, the hospital's president and chief executive officer. "As one of the premier children's hospital sin the world, our new facility will be the anchor for the pediatric network."

The facility will also include an outpatient care building, an office building and both surface and structure parking. Biester tells GlobeSt.com construction also will help the local economy, as it will create about 1,200 jobs at its peak. The hospital, in the Uptown neighborhood east of Downtown, currently employs about 2,900 people.

To help pay for the construction, the hospital's board launched its $250 million "Imagine the Miracle Campaign." That's more than 15 times as large as its previous biggest fundraiser, which was $15 million for a new addition to the hospital in the mid-1990s. So far, about $125 million has been raised in the "quiet phase" of the campaign, says retired businessman Don Elliman, co-chair of the campaign. He notes 74% of the employees at Children's Hospital have donated to the campaign, which is more than twice what employees give nationally.

"Our goal is simple," Elliman says. "It's to build the world's best Children's Hospital."

In addition to the campaign, the hospital's cost is being funded primarily through tax-exempt bonds, hospital operations, and a portion of the unrestricted assets of the Children's Hospital Foundation. The new hospital will include private rooms with family sleeping accommodations, family storage, private baths, data ports and desks.