Texas’ $15.8 billion medical construction pipeline is second in the … – Chron.com

Sabriya Rice, The Dallas Morning News

A vibrant and robust economy is spurring the building and expansion of hospitals and medical office buildings in Texas.

At $15.8 billion, the Lone Star State has the second-largest pipeline for medical real estate in the nation, according to medical real estate data firm Revista, which recently released its annual health care construction analysis evaluating projects underway in 2017.

"There is a lot of construction and demographic growth in general in Texas, and health care real estate goes along with that," said author, Mike Hargrave. "It's a vibrant economy."

Other researchers have come to similar conclusions.

Providers say the billions invested over the past five years in new facilities and patient towers is necessary to remain competitive, especially in areas of significant population growth, according to a separate health market review for Texas released at the end of 2016.

"The primary (strategy) is seeking to expand the geographic reach of the hospital systems into developing areas with high household incomes and rich health benefits," said that report, authored by independent analyst, Allan Baumgarten.

The new data from Revista focuses on approved and funded projects that exceed $5 million in value. The analysts identified a total of 114 hospitals and medical office buildings under construction in Texas that met the criteria.

In North Texas, there were 36 in the pipeline, valued at an estimated $7.9 billion total.

They include the $125 million luxury Women's Hospital that Medical City Dallas is planning for 2018, UT Southwestern Medical Center's $66 million radiation oncology treatment center scheduled to open in March and Texas Health's medical campus in Frisco being planned for 2019.

As for other areas of the state, there were 31 in the Houston area, valued at about $3.8 billion, and eight in or around Austin valued at $503 million.

Revista collects the data for its report from multiple sources, including company announcements, public records and bond filings. Texas was second to California, which has $16.4 billion in medical real estate projects in the works for this year.

However, there are concerns that hospital capacity is increasing at time when inpatient care is being described as flat or falling, other market reports have said.

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Texas' $15.8 billion medical construction pipeline is second in the ... - Chron.com