Design Changes to New Sanford Hospital - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Some changes will be coming to Sanford's setup and design for a new hospital in the works. More departments will be staying downtown than originally planned.

Sanford was also originally looking at more than 500 beds in the new facility, but that number is now cut down to less than 400. Sanford says this will help adjust for growth in coming years.

"The growth that we've had over the last three years since the merger has put up a red flag that said, you know, we build this thing at the level we initially anticipated, it's gonna be occupied fully as we open our doors," says Dr. Richard Marsden, Sanford Senior Executive Vice President.

Another change, patient rooms will all be the same size and there will be less clinic space to allow for growth adjustment in the future.

"Now the space that we're building at the new campus is mostly hospital space," Marsden says. "So our next phase of development will be clinic buildings that will be able to be built without deep foundation stabilization."

Due to unfavorable soil conditions, the base of the new hospital will be smaller, and the design will, instead, go up a couple of extra floors. Officials say making the facility higher instead of wider, will also save on costs.