There’s a new hospital to be built in the region. Holy Cross Hospital will be opening an acute care facility in the Montgomery Life Sciences Park in Germantown, and on the south side of the Montgomery College campus.

The project received the go-ahead following a decision last week by the Maryland Health Care Commission granting a Certificate of Need to Holy Cross Hospital to build the facility in Upper Montgomery County.

The new hospital will go under the name Holy Cross Germantown Hospital.

Holy Cross officials say the foundation work is underway at the site, and the new facility is expected to be completed by the summer of 2014. It will have 93 patient beds, 250,000 square feet of space, and it will a six-story high building. It’s estimated to cost #200-million.

Annice Cody, Holy Cross’ Vice President of Strategic Planning, says the Hospital decide to place a facility in Germantown because of the growth anticipated for that region. "We looked at where there were current facilities. We also looked where there was significant population centers without current facilities, and where there’s going to be a lot of growth in the population. And the Germantown-Gaithersburg area really popped out at that," she says.

The new hospital will have an emergency room, along with obstetric, medical, surgical and psychiatric care.

Because of its proximity to  Montgomery College, Cody says there will be some teaching opportunities. "We have a relationship with Montgomery College to provide teaching slots in the hospital for their nursing students as well as other affiliated health sciences students," she says.

Even though it is located in Germantown, Cody says she expects some Frederick County residents will make use of the new hospital. "It’s quite accessible right off of {Interstate} 270. So I think people throughout the area who will find it an attractive place to receive their hospital services," says Cody.