Roger Sipe, Lexington Medical Center’s Senior Vice President of Operations, gave a facilities construction  update at the Greater Cayce-West Columbia Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Tuesday.

LMC is coming to the end of a $400 million expansion project that adds a 10-floor tower, 545,000 square feet, 192 beds, eight operating rooms, and 20 specially designed nursery beds for new moms and babies. Sipe said the new facility- called the North Tower – is scheduled to open on March 26.

Sipe said it is the largest hospital expansion in the history of South Carolina according to Department of Health and Environmental Control records.

A 950-vehicle parking garage has also been completed on the LMC grounds at Sunset Boulevard and Interstate 26 in West Columbia.

Sipe also said land has been purchased for an LMC faculty at Saluda Pointe, off of Ginny Lane in Lexington. It will include a free-standing urgent care building and an imaging center.

LMC is also planning a facility in the Northeast section of Richalnd County, in the Killian-Clemson Road area near Longtown Road. Property has been purchased for that project.

Sipe said LMC’s 393 beds were 90 percent filled in 2018. The hospital received about 89,000 emergency room visits and physicians had in-person contact with 1.3 million patients. There were 24,000 surgeries and  3,300 births at LMC in 2018, said Sipe.