Banner – UMC Tucson Opens State-of-the-Art Patient Tower

Banner – University Medical Center Tucson's new patient tower opened to patients on April 22.
The view of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the second-floor cafe.
The new tower features 20 state-of-the-art operating rooms.
The new tower has 228 private patient rooms.
The hospital's main entrance and lobby shifts to The Pavilion in "Tower 1."
UA President Robert C. Robbins speaks at the new tower's grand opening reception on April 11.
Wilbur Wildcat repels alongside the Banner – University Medical Center Tucson's new patient tower at an event on April 11.
Banner – University Medical Center Tucson employees dine at the hospital's new cafeteria at an April 7 employee celebration of the tower's opening.
Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild signs a "memory wall" in Tower 1 during the grand opening reception on April 11.
Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat greet guests at a Banner – UMC Tucson tower reception on April 11.
Cardiothoracic surgeons Robert C. Robbins, president of the UA, and Dr. Irving Kron, interim dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson, presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 20 new operating rooms on April 29.

After nearly four years of construction, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson opened its $446 million, nine-story patient tower to the public on April 22.

The new tower – which features 228 private rooms, 20 operating rooms, diagnostic imaging and cardiac catheterization labs, a new cafeteria and clear views of Tucson and the Santa Catalina Mountains – aims to provide the most modern and comfortable setting for hospital patients and the best teaching hospital experience for aspiring medical professionals.

With this 670,000-square-foot tower expansion, Banner – UMC Tucson's capacity has increased from 479 to 649 licensed beds.

The new tower, which includes $50 million in new patient care equipment and computer technology, replaces older sections of the original hospital building, which opened in 1971 as University Hospital.

The tower was designed by architects Shepley Bulfinch, engineers AEI and GLHN Architects & Engineers. The lead contractor was Sundt I DPR.

Find more details about the new tower on UA@Work.

April 25, 2019