JPS Health Network President & CEO Dr. Karen Duncan (left) clasps hands with former board of managers member Amanda Arizola after they and a current board of managers member Rev. Ralph W. Emerson Jr. (right) broke ground for the new John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, April 16, 2026. JPS Health Network is undergoing a major $2.5 billion expansion. during a ground breaking ceremony and ribbon cutting for the new John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, April 15, 2026. JPS Health Network is undergoing a major $2.5 billion expansion.
Tom Fox
Tarrant County’s public hospital district has officially begun construction on a new hospital, more than seven years after voters approved funding for the facility and a slate of other projects.
JPS Health Network on Thursday afternoon held a ceremonial groundbreaking event. The new hospital, which is the central undertaking of a massive expansion project, is expected to open in 2030.
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“We are here today not just to break ground on a new hospital but to fulfill a promise,” said Dr. Karen Duncan, JPS’ president and CEO. “This building will be a symbol of dignity, a symbol of access and a symbol of what it means to truly care for one another.”
Construction is expected to start in earnest within the next couple of weeks, said COO Jill Farrell.
Officials broke ground on the new John Peter Smith Hospital with golden shovels and white cowboy hard hats during a ceremony in Fort Worth, April 16, 2026. JPS Health Network is undergoing a major $2.5 billion expansion.
Tom Fox | The Dallas Morning News
The building is one of several major construction projects that JPS is undertaking as part of a now-$2.5 billion renovation and expansion. A new medical home, health center, psychiatric emergency center and parking garage are already complete and open, according to the website for the JPS project. An outpatient building and utility plant are scheduled for 2029 completion.
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JPS Health Network is building a new hospital, slated to open in 2030. This rendering shows the exterior of the planned hospital.
Provided by JPS Health Network
The current JPS hospital is at South Main Street and Allen Avenue in Fort Worth’s medical district. The new hospital will be built on the other side of South Main, at Bryan Avenue and East Morphy Street.
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The new hospital will open with about 740 beds and have capacity to hold more than 800 beds, a significant increase from the current facility’s 582-bed capacity. Those additional beds are needed, according to a February 2018 report from a county-appointed committee.
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The report said at the time that the size of the existing hospital tower and behavioral health center “do not meet the current demand and will certainly not be able to meet expected increases in future demand.” The report cited “chronic bottlenecks” in the emergency room as patients waited for beds.
Later in 2018, Tarrant County voters approved $800 million in bonds for the overall JPS expansion project. Combined with $400 million from the hospital district’s reserves, the project was expected at the time to total $1.2 billion. The project’s total cost has more than doubled since then.
Some components of the project have also changed since the proposal went before voters. For instance, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in 2023 that the original plan for four “medical homes” — standalone health clinics — had been scaled back to one.
The time stretching between the 2018 voter approval and Thursday’s hospital groundbreaking can be attributed to the COVID pandemic and the many stages of the project, Farrell said.
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Guests arrive for a ground breaking ceremony on the grounds of the new John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, April 16, 2026. JPS Health Network is undergoing a major $2.5 billion expansion.
Tom Fox | The Dallas Morning News
“COVID definitely slowed us down,” she said. “Also, this is a complicated project for us, and we did the projects in a step-wise fashion. As you can imagine, we have a footprint here on this campus, so it’s a lot of logistics and moving pieces to get to the hospital.”
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JPS’ current hospital will remain up and running until the new hospital is complete. Farrell said Thursday that the hospital district has not yet determined what will happen with the current facility once the new one opens.
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JPS Health Network President & CEO Dr. Karen Duncan (right) at a ground breaking ceremony for the new John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, April 16, 2026. JPS Health Network is undergoing a major $2.5 billion expansion.
Tom Fox | The Dallas Morning News
Dr. Brian Webb, the chair of orthopaedic surgery at JPS, said at Thursday’s event that the new hospital will allow JPS staff to provide modern medicine more efficiently and to invest in the education of future medical providers.
“What this new hospital ultimately delivers,” he said, “is timely care.”