11-12-2024 4:03am

TOWSON FIRM BUILDING

Whiting-Turner, Mahogany start $540M rural Maryland hospital project

The Towson-based contractors expect to finish the six-story facility by the summer of 2028.

A pair of Baltimore-based contractors recently broke ground on a new state-of-the-art hospital in Easton, Maryland, according to an Oct. 22 news release.

The $540 million facility, under construction by Whiting-Turner and Mahogany, will replace the current Shore Medical Center on South Washington Street in Easton. The new hospital will serve over 450,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties.

The project, situated on a 230-acre site, aims to advance healthcare quality and accessibility for the region, said Ken Kozel, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, during the groundbreaking ceremony.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore has historically struggled with access to comprehensive healthcare due to its rural nature and geographic isolation from the rest of the state, according to a news release from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The federal government designates nearly the entire Eastern Shore as a medically underserved area, according to the UMB release.

“Expanding access to healthcare across our 2,000 square mile region — with the goal of providing the ‘right care at the right place at right time’ — has required us to think of innovative ways for transforming rural health care,” said Kozel in the release. “We look forward to realizing our vision of our new, state-of-the-art Shore Regional Medical Center.”

The six-story hospital facility will feature 122 private inpatient beds, 27 emergency department treatment bays and 25 adult observation beds, along with specialized facilities like an acute rehabilitation center, birthing center and a cardiac intervention unit. The complex also includes a 60,000-square-foot outpatient services building and a helipad to enhance critical care abilities.

The construction team of Whiting-Turner and Mahogany expects to finish the project by the summer of 2028, according to the release.