The project includes a $2.49 billion hospital and another $2.25 billion for surrounding buildings and campus infrastructure, putting the total investment above $4.7 billion. When it opens, it will be the first major new hospital in Indianapolis since 2013.

The 16-story hospital will cover 2.5 million square feet and contain 860 private patient rooms, about as many as the two existing hospitals combined. Its 110-space emergency department will be slightly larger than Methodist’s. The campus is also slated to include outpatient cancer care, research facilities and the Indianapolis home of the IU School of Medicine.

IU Health says bringing services together will support closer links between patient care, medical education and research. “It brings everything together under one space,” said Dr. Michele Saysana, president of IU Health Methodist and University hospitals.

The hospital’s three towers are organized around patients’ care needs. Higher-acuity rooms will be in the southern tower, while patients needing less intensive care will be in the northern tower. The middle tower will serve patients between those levels. All rooms are designed to convert to intensive care when needed, a flexibility Chief Nursing Officer Amanda Noth-Matchett said reflects lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new emergency department will occupy about half of the ground floor at the hospital’s south end. Two rooftop helipads and 12 ambulance bays are planned for emergency access. IU Health also built a foundation for a potential fourth tower to allow for future expansion.

Construction began in March 2022, and about 1,500 construction workers are on site each day, according to the health system. Furniture installation began in August and is expected to take about 10 months. About 11% of the equipment needed for the new hospital will be moved from the existing facilities.

Other parts of the campus are also taking shape, including Capitol View, an outpatient medical office building, and a parking structure with more than 2,600 spaces. At full build-out, the campus will stretch from 12th to 16th streets and from Capitol Avenue west to Interstate 65.

IU Health estimates the new campus will reduce operating costs by $50 million a year. University Hospital’s property will return to Indiana University after the hospital closes; the future of Methodist Hospital’s more than 2 million square feet remains undecided.

Methodist opened in 1908. Its closure, along with University Hospital’s, will end decades of care at the two downtown facilities. IU Health officials say the transition carries both excitement and emotion as the first patients’ arrival approaches in December 2027.