Wolff expects county will advance major multihospital expansion

Green light would address heightened pressure on University Hospital as demand for care increases

University Hospital could get some needed relief amid population growth and heightened demand for care. (San Antonio Business Journal)

SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County Commissioners are expected to consider granting the Bexar County Hospital District the approval to pursue $500 million in debt financing to help fund major expansion projects on Tuesday, including the construction of two new public hospital campuses.

Multiple county leaders expect enough support to advance the landmark expansion plan.

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One of the planned hospitals is earmarked for a site near the Retama Park Racetrack in nearby Selma. The other would be built next to the Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus on the city’s South Side.

“I expect approval,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.

In spring 2021, the Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers approved a pair of land purchases, including one for more than 42 acres in Selma.

The Selma site is in an area Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert said is “medically underserved.”

Last fall, in a separate transaction, the hospital district’s Board of Managers approved a $10.4 million purchase of a 68-acre site at South Zarzamora and Jaguar Parkway adjacent to the Texas A&M-San Antonio campus. The parcel is part of the 600-acre master-planned community expected to include some 4,000 new residential units at full build-out.

University Health recently secured funding from the county to construct a $30 million multistory medical structure on a portion of that land to serve as a headquarters for expanded public health operations in the region.

University Health President and CEO George Hernandez warned that having just one county hospital has made it difficult to keep pace with the accelerating demand for care in the region. That demand has put extra capacity pressure on University Hospital.

“This is major,” said Calvert, also optimistic commissioners will back the expansion. “This is an important vote.”

Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.

Click here to read the full story in the San Antonio Business Journal.

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