Gaithersburg’s Adventist HealthCare is moving forward with plans to modernize its 45-year-old Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville with a new, $180-million patient tower that is expected to open in 2025.
The six-story, 150,352-square-foot critical-care tower will be built adjacent to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center’s acute-care facility at 9901 Medical Center Drive, on what’s currently a parking lot in front of its emergency department. It’s designed to house a replacement emergency department, a larger intensive care unit and new medical-surgical patient rooms, according to the health system, which held a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday.
The work itself involves constructing and attaching the new tower to the current hospital and replacing original 1970s designs with updated workflows and equipment, which require more space.
“As Shady Grove added onto its original building, services became more spread out,” said Todd Cohen, associate vice president of facilities and real estate for Adventist HealthCare. “The tower will correct issues like these” by putting related services near each other, such as placing the cardiac catheterization lab near the emergency room, he said. The redesign should also make it easier for caregivers to meet infection prevention standards, Cohen added.
