Construction Progress: Milestones Reached and What's Ahead

If it feels like construction is everywhere around Cook Children's Medical Center - Fort Worth, you're not imagining it.

Detours, lane closures, temporary entrances, fencing and cranes have become part of daily life on campus. While the work can be frustrating at times, each project is moving us closer to something important: creating the space and capacity needed to care for more children and families in the years ahead.

The good news is that we're beginning to reach key milestones. Several major infrastructure projects are complete or well underway, and some of the most visible impacts around campus are expected to ease in the coming months. For example, we anticipate wrapping up the utility and road work affecting 8th Avenue and Rosedale Street by October. After that, West Tower construction should largely be contained within the Cook Children's campus footprint.

While construction will continue for several years, progress is happening every day. This guide highlights what we've accomplished so far, what's coming next and how these projects support the future of Cook Children's.

Growing with the Community

Fort Worth, the greater DFW metro area and the surrounding regions that rely on Cook Children's for specialty pediatric care are growing. We are prepared to grow with them.

"North Texas is expanding rapidly, and we're here to match that expansion," said Spencer Seals, Senior Vice President of Real Estate, Construction and Facilities Planning for Cook Children's Health Care System. "Through the West Tower and other construction projects, we are building future capacity."

With population growth comes increased demand for Cook Children's services. As the largest Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in North Texas, Cook Children's cares for critically ill babies from hospitals both nearby and hundreds of miles away.

To ensure we're here for every child who needs us, Cook Children's developed a 10-year growth plan designed to expand our campus and meet the needs of patients and families for decades to come.

Progress and Milestones

So far this year, we’ve made progress or completed numerous projects.

Kids' Place Opens Its New Home

To make room for the West Tower expansion, the Kids' Place Child Development Center relocated from Southland Avenue to a new facility on Cook Children's campus along 9th Avenue between Cooper and Pruitt streets.

The new space maintains the same capacity while offering a modernized environment designed to better support both children and team members. Dedicated parking helps preserve the convenient drop-off and pick-up experience families have come to expect.

West Tower Infrastructure Takes Shape

Several foundational phases of the West Tower project are now complete.

Phase 1 of excavation, including installation of two tower cranes and construction of the basement structure, has been completed. The former Alliance for Children building has been demolished, and construction of the West Tower Garage is underway.

Meanwhile, crews continue expanding the South Utility Plant, which provides electrical power across the campus. As part of that work, teams excavated a major utility tunnel beneath 7th Avenue.

Building the Foundation

Much of the construction visible today is creating the infrastructure necessary to support the future West Tower.

The 10-story, 760,000-square-foot tower will house a new PICU, an expanded Heart Center and a Transitional Care Unit. It will also create opportunities to expand the NICU and Emergency Department within the existing hospital.

Many of the lane closures along 8th Avenue, Rosedale Street and throughout the Medical District have been necessary to relocate and upgrade utilities that support the future building. This work includes:

• sewer lines
• storm drains
• internet access
• irrigation
• water flow
• fire water

Teams are also relocating gas lines and Oncor power lines.

We hope to wrap up the 8th Avenue and Rosedale road work by October.

After that, all West Tower construction should be contained to the Cook Children’s Fort Worth campus. There will still be construction on Rosedale, but that work is being done by the city on behalf of the entire Medical District.

As construction continues, Cook Children’s construction website is the best place to find up-to-date information of lane, road and sidewalk closures.

Spencer explained that his team and their partners have done everything they can to mitigate the impact the construction has on the community, staff, and patients. For example, Cook Children’s avoided road closures on 7th Avenue, where utility work needed to be done, by having crews tunneling beneath the street.

Still, Spencer knows the lane closures and traffic can be a challenge. However, if we are going to grow with the community, the utility work was always a necessary growing pain.

“In order to meet the needs of the Cook Children’s system, we had to do this infrastructure work with or without the West Tower,” Spencer explained. “And in order to expand the NICU, PICU and the Heart Center, we needed to add the tower. There is literally not enough room to do that without the West Tower addition.”

What to Expect Next

One of the next major milestones begins in September, when the 8th and Terrell Parking Garage closes temporarily.

Before utilities can be connected to the West Tower, crews must lower portions of Terrell Avenue and 7th Avenue. This work will create the proper grade needed to manage stormwater around the future building. Terrell Avenue is expected to reopen to both pedestrian and vehicle traffic by summer 2027.

Over the next six months, we expect to reach several additional milestones, including:

• Completion of utility work along 8th Avenue
• Continued construction of new parking garages
• Installation of three additional tower cranes
• Completion of the first of five major phases of West Tower construction
• Advancement of the second phase of basement construction

According to Spencer, his team and construction partners have worked diligently to reduce impacts on team members, patients and the surrounding community. One example is the decision to tunnel beneath 7th Avenue rather than close the roadway during major utility work.

Still, Spencer acknowledges the challenges that construction creates.

"In order to meet the needs of the Cook Children's system, we had to do this infrastructure work with or without the West Tower," Spencer said. "And in order to expand the NICU, PICU and the Heart Center, we needed to add the tower. There is literally not enough room to do that without the West Tower addition."

Looking Ahead

By late 2030, Cook Children’s will have added more than 200 beds in the West Tower, renovated parts of the hospital and built in extra space to prepare for future growth.

The West Tower reflects Cook Children’s growth – from 56 private rooms in the PICU to a state-of-the-art Heart Center, with everything a patient needs from surgery to discharge in contiguous space to more beds and spaces for families to heal.

With the space vacated in the existing hospital, we’re undertaking a 155,000 square-foot renovation, including more cancer services, highly specialized interventional radiology and the addition of 37 NICU beds to bring the total to nearly 150 beds.

For more than a century, Cook Children’s has risen to meet the needs of the moment — we’ve expanded our campus, evolved our technology and added services to improve the health and well-being of all children in its care. This expansion is a continuation of our Promise, “Everything for the child.”

We appreciate your patience and you can read more about the expansion on the Construction page on the Cook Children's website. The site is updated with the latest construction impacts so please bookmark it and check it regularly.