Nicklaus Children’s Hospital leaders and supporters joined together last week for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the launch of the next phase of the hospital’s master facility plan, construction of a 127,000-square-foot surgical tower slated for completion in 2024. The tower will rise four stories above the hospital’s Emergency Department, located at the center of the main campus near Coral Gables.
Among those in attendance were hospital namesakes Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Miami-Dade County Chief Operations Officer, Jimmy Morales.
“We are beaming with pride as we celebrate the groundbreaking of the new surgical tower,” said Matthew A. Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System, parent organization of the hospital. “The tower will strengthen our legacy as the number one children’s hospital in Florida and the premier center for delivering the best surgical care to the children of our community, our state and around the world.”
In a joint statement, Jack Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, said, “We are honored to be here to make history with the groundbreaking of the surgical tower. The planned new state-of-the art surgical suites have been on the hospital’s “wish list” for many years and we know the tower is going to fill an important need for the children of South Florida and around the globe.”
The surgical tower will enable the hospital to construct new state-of-the-art operating suites to replace existing operating rooms that are now 35 years old and lack the size and ceiling height necessary to accommodate fully the latest equipment, along with multidisciplinary surgical teams required for complex cases. Offerings will include augmented reality during surgery, virtual reality surgical planning and more. The new structure will also offer spacious and private pre- and post-surgical care spaces for the children and families we serve.
Nicklaus Children’s is the only specialty-licensed children’s hospital in South Florida. Florida’s Specialty Hospitals for Children – which include Nicklaus Children’s, John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Health – are the only four hospitals with a specialty-license designation by the state and the only Florida hospitals that solely provide and invest in care for children. The hospitals are committed to ensuring every Florida child has access to the world-class, specialized care they need. These hospitals are uniquely designated to care for the most complex medical diagnoses. Year after year, we continue to expand our services and stay at the leading edge of pediatric treatment and research.
The surgical tower at Nicklaus Children’s is a companion to its Advanced Pediatric Care Pavilion, the hospital’s 217,000-square-foot, six-story bed tower that is home to the hospital’s three intensive care units (pediatric, neonatal and congenital heart) as well as the hematology-oncology/bone marrow transplant, and neurology units. The tower features spacious single patient rooms, an intraoperative MRI and the latest technology.
The contractor for the project is Brasfield & Gorrie and the architect is Perkins+Will. The owner’s representative is CBRE Project Management.
About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Children Matter Most ™ (2024)
Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children. With more than 850 physicians, including over 500 pediatric subspecialists, the hospital and its network of outpatient centers and offices serve close to 70% of children in the Miami market. The only hospital "where your child matters most™,” Nicklaus Children's is home to the region's most advanced Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower, and its centers of excellence Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children’s Orthopedics, Sports Health and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children’s Brain Institute and Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute. The Nicklaus Children's Hospital's Transfer Center, Nick4Kids, and LifeFlight are responsible for transporting and saving close to 5,000 lives a year. Our 307-bed hospital, which is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, has many specialty programs routinely ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's is also home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern United States and since 2003 has been designated an American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession's most prestigious institutional honor. For more information, please visit www.nicklauschildrens.org.