LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — During the first week of April, work is set to start on a $50 million exterior renovation project at the University Medical Center campus.
Monday morning, hospital officials and Clark County leaders gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the makeover, which is expected to be finished in 2025.
"Every building's going to be touched," said Mason Van Houweling, UMC's CEO. "It's really a modernization and renovation of the entire campus."
Officials say the revamp will add enhanced lighting, parking access, pedestrian access, signage, landscaping, and two "healing garden" areas. It will also add a new hospital entrance off Shadow Lane in the medical district.
Back in 1931, UMC was known as the Clark County Indigent Hospital that opened as a one-room facility in Las Vegas. Now, it's a sprawling medical campus and the only "level one" trauma center in the state. This means that UMC can provide complete care for almost every aspect of trauma or injuries.
UMC also houses the only children's hospital of its kind in Nevada.
"UMC has always been the anchor of the medical district," said Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, who attended the ceremony. "It's provided just tremendous care. It never really had the exterior that matched the quality of the interior. I'm so excited with this project. It's going to be a tremendous highlight for the entire district."
About 4,200 employees work at UMC, including 1,300 registered nurses and close to 1,000 attending physicians.
The hospital handles about 22,000 in-patient admissions annually.
