Tampa General Hospital breaks ground on new surgical tower: 'Hard to put into words'

Tampa General Hospital in downtown Tampa broke ground Monday on a new surgical, neuroscience and transplant tower as part of a major expansion.

TGH executives hope the new 565,000-square-foot building will be ready for patients and staff by the summer of 2027. They say it’s the biggest project at TGH in its nearly 100-year history. The tower -- costing $520 million to construct -- will be named the Taneja Tower, after a major donor family.

"It’s hard to put into words… the focus we have on academic medicine, research and clinical care is going to show very brightly in this building, so it’s hard to describe, but it feels great," said John Couris, President and CEO of Tampa General Hospital.

The building will add 144 patient beds, 32 operating suites and increased intensive care unit capacity. It will also have space for education and training, emergency response, and it will help maintain TGH’s current spot as No. 4 in the nation for transplants.

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"We’ve needed more beds, we’ve needed more ORs, and we’ve needed to bring in more ICUs because we are a very busy hospital," said Couris. "People that come to a TGH facility and this [new] building will feel and see and experience the excellence that has existed for the last 100 years."

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