By Eleni Himaras

Officials ceremoniously broke ground for the new 54-acre Lakeway Regional Medical Center complex last Saturday.

“This may be the most exciting day in the history of Lakeway,” Lakeway Mayor Steve Swan told the crowd of about 100 at the ceremony. “Words like job creation and work destination have never been in Lakeway’s vocabulary. This changes all that.”

Swan, along with future hospital board members Dr. Samuel J. DeMaio, Dr. Thomas Baldacchino, Dan Brouillette and Surgical Development Partners representative Ed Bevins donned white construction hats and picked up shovels to start the next phase of the hospital project. 

“This is another beginning,” DeMaio said. 

Construction crews will work to lay the pipe and the electrical line through the winter and plan to begin vertical construction in March 2009. The hospital is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2011.

DeMaio first approached the city about building at the future hospital site along RR 620 nearly two years ago. 

“The mayor asked if we wanted the building permit that day,” DeMaio joked. 

Currently, there is only one urgent care facility in Bee Cave but many residents have to drive all the way into Austin for a full range of surgical or outpatient care. 

The complex will not only house a full-service 100-bed hospital, but restaurants, retail, a hotel, a daycare facility, medical offices and a rehabilitation hospital. Air-conditioned pedestrian bridges will connect the medical offices to the main hospital.

Because of its hilly nature, the construction site for the hospital has long gone undeveloped. Designers of the new medical center have worked to incorporate that into the plan, allowing for an area of green space and walking trails on site.

“We wanted a destination spot — a true medical center feeling,” DeMaio said. “Patients heal better and do better in a comfortable environment.”

The central, General Acute Care Hospital will feature an emergency room, diagnostic imaging, an outpatient clinic, surgical services, cardiovascular services, a maternity ward, radiation and medical oncology and other critical care services. There is a plan for a future expansion if the demand is there that would give the hospital a total of 200 beds.