St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center will officially open its new 10-story, $184 million patient tower this month.
The John T. O’Connell Tower encompasses 318,000 square feet of floor space and essentially doubles St. Francis’ emergency department, while adding 17 state-of-the-art replacement operating rooms.
 It also includes hybrid and cardiac rooms as well as operating and private patient care rooms for the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute.
Occupancy of the tower will begin in phases starting in March, with the facility scheduled to be fully operational by June.
The facility also contains a new rooftop for Life Star landings.
The new tower will likely heighten competition between St. Francis Hospital and its neighboring health care provider Hartford Hospital.
