jjarvis@star-telegram.com

Residents in the Alliance area in far north Fort Worth will be getting a new hospital close to home in late 2011.

Texas Health Resources plans to build a full-service hospital off Golden Triangle Boulevard, east of Interstate 35W.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for this fall with service beginning in late 2011 and construction complete by 2012. The hospital is expected to include an emergency room, acute-care inpatient beds, outpatient and surgical services, and offices.

The site, at 10001 Old Denton Road in Fort Worth, was chosen to meet the needs of residents in the Alliance area, one of the fastest-growing communities in North Texas, said Barclay E. Berdan, senior executive vice president of system alignment and performance at Texas Health Resources.

"They really don’t have great access to hospital and ambulatory services, and we thought this was a great opportunity to match up with the population up there," he said.

The new hospital will serve residents from Keller to east of Eagle Mountain Lake and northward about halfway to Denton. Initially, the facility will be a little smaller than Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital H-E-B and larger than Texas Health Azle.

Texas Health Resources bought 40 acres at the southwest corner of Old Denton Road and Golden Triangle Boulevard from Hillwood, Alliance’s developer, in mid-December, deed records show.

The deal involved swapping land that the healthcare company bought from Hillwood more than a decade ago. In 1999, Texas Health Resources bought 35.8 acres in the Circle T Ranch, east of U.S. 377 and along Alliance Gateway in Westlake. In December, it traded the Westlake land for the property about five miles south in Fort Worth.

After considering the distance that Alliance residents must travel for hospital care in Fort Worth’s medical district, the new site was better, Berdan said.

"We keep track of everything from drive times to rooftop counts, and it’s taking longer and longer for people to drive south down I-35," he said.

Mark Miller, Hillwood’s vice president of retail, said the hospital and ancillary services will be a "great boon" for the area. Alliance residents have long asked for more and closer medical services.

The facilities could also draw other businesses to Alliance, such as restaurants, to meet work-force needs.

Texas Health Resources approached Hillwood about six months ago, indicating that the company would rather have a site near I-35W, Miller said.

"Having one of the bigger players make a move, it’s going to be great," Miller said.

Not too far away, on I-35W and North Tarrant Parkway, HCA Health Services of Texas owns 73.5 acres where it has planned to build a hospital and medical offices.

The company, part of Nashville-based Hospital Corp. of America, first bought 60 acres in January 2003 and later acquired 13 acres near North Tarrant Parkway and Old Denton Road, just south of Alliance Town Center.

"We don’t have anything concrete yet ready to announce," said Randy Moresi, CEO of North Hills Hospital, an affiliate of HCA. "We’re still studying the situation."

But the area is a fantastic growth engine for Tarrant County, he said.

"There’s no question that the north part of Fort Worth through the Alliance area is going to be an incredible population generator for a long time," he said.

Texas Health Resources, which is based in Arlington, operates 14 hospitals, including the Harris Methodist hospitals, Presbyterian in Dallas and Arlington Memorial.

JAN JARVIS, 817-390-7664

North Fort Worth Alliance

The North Fort Worth Alliance was organized in 2006 to address quality of life issues in northeast Fort Worth. Representing 20 homeowner associations they meet the third Saturday of each month at 9:00AM at the Fellowship of the Parks Church at the corner of North Beach and Alta Vista Road. Presentations cover current issues and guest speakers include government agencies, local and state elected officials on pertinent issues. Visit their website at www.northfortworthalliance.com for more information.