Austin Regional Clinic building South Austin campus with new surgery center

Austin Regional Clinic is creating a South Austin medical campus near Ben White Boulevard and South First Street. On Thursday, it broke ground on a 65,000-square-foot building that will house a new surgical center and specialty clinic. The building will join its existing two buildings nearby, which house primary care, pediatrics and the existing specialty clinic.

The site formerly housed a WellMed medical office building.

ARC, which has 36 clinics throughout Central Texas, is entering the ambulatory surgery center field for the first time, said Anas Daghestani, president and CEO of ARC. "We always believe if we coordinate care under the same umbrella, we are able to do a better job, increase access and quality," he said.

That extends to the patient experience, including receiving one bill, having one point of contact and better coordination of care before and after surgery, he said.

ARC chose the site as a place for an ambulatory surgery center because of its long-standing presence at the location, which was one of the first ARC locations in Austin, when ARC began in 1980.

The ARC Surgery Center South and ARC South Specialty building will be ARC's second surgery center. It is in the process of building a similar center in Round Rock, which will open next year. This South Austin center is expected to open in early 2026.

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The South Austin building will have the ambulatory surgery center on the first floor as well as 45 exam rooms, four treatment rooms, a laboratory and radiology. The second floor will have 58 exam rooms, three treatment rooms and a medical aesthetics suite.

As of now, the building will have dermatology; podiatry; audiology; general surgery; orthopedics; sports and musculoskeletal medicine; gastroenterology; cardiology; neurology; rheumatology; and allergy and asthma specialists.

For the doctors, it will mean being able to have an office in the same building as their operating room.

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ARC will see more growth soon. Its clinic at Goodnight Ranch in Southeast Austin is opening Sept. 30. A clinic in Lockhart is under construction.

ARC expects to build more medical campuses throughout Central Texas. Round Rock, with its new surgery center, as well as Cedar Park are medical campuses in the making, Daghestani said.

"We will continue to grow with the city," he said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Regional Clinic building South Austin campus with new surgery center