The Gloria Drummond Patient Tower, a nine-story, 427,000-square-foot addition to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, is complete, and hospital leaders say the first patients are expected inside by the end of the month. Every room in it is private.

A hospital that just doubled down

Anyone who has driven past 800 Meadows Road over the last four years has watched this one climb. Ground was broken in March 2022, the structure topped out in 2024, and the building was reconceived along the way from seven floors to nine to make room for more care. With the tower open, the Boca Regional campus grows past one million square feet, a scale that hospital leaders say will make it the largest hospital in Palm Beach County once the new beds and the existing ones are counted together.

The tower is the centerpiece of a campus rebuild that also delivered the Toby and Leon Cooperman Medical Arts Pavilion, a new parking garage and a new energy plant. Donors to the hospital foundation, led by philanthropist Elaine J. Wold, put more than $270 million toward the improvements, well past the $250 million goal of what was the largest campaign in the hospital's history.

What is inside

The headline for patients and families is the room itself. Each private room in the new tower has floor-to-ceiling windows, a fold-out sofa bed so someone can stay the night, a chair and a large screen. On the upper floors, the windows look east toward the ocean. A pharmacy sits on every floor, and nurses' stations are built with their own small conference rooms.

The medical side is just as big a step. The tower adds 20 new operating rooms plus two hybrid operating rooms with ceiling-mounted intraoperative MRI, which lets surgeons image the brain or body during a procedure without moving the patient. A hybrid PET/MRI and a new radiology suite round out the imaging. The Marcus Neuroscience Institute gets significantly more room for stroke, epilepsy and other brain and nerve care, and a cardiovascular intensive care unit is part of the build.

A hospital stay is also about the hours spent in the lobby, and the tower was planned with that in mind. Visitors arrive at a new grand entrance with a canopy, skylights and fountains. The ground floor has a public bistro with indoor and outdoor seating, a nondenominational chapel with an adjoining Shabbat room, phone chargers built into the seating, and touch-screen wayfinding so families can find their way without asking at a desk.

Why private rooms are a big deal

Shared hospital rooms are still common across South Florida, and anyone who has spent a night beside a stranger's monitor knows the cost: less sleep, less privacy, and a harder time for family who want to stay close. Every room in the Drummond tower is private, and the broader campus plan also converts existing rooms in the older buildings to private accommodations. Private rooms also give the bedside technology and the care team more space to work, which was a stated goal of the design. For patients recovering from surgery or a stroke, a quiet room and a family member on the sofa bed can make a real difference in how the days go.

The name on the building

Gloria Drummond is the reason there is a hospital here at all. She founded the original Boca Raton Community Hospital, which opened in July 1967. Nearly six decades later, the newest and largest building on the campus she started carries her name, chosen in honor of her lifelong friendship with Mrs. Wold.

What it means for you

Patients will be placed in the new tower based on the level of care they need, so you will not book a room there. What changes is the experience. If you or a family member is admitted this winter, the odds are good that you will recover in a private room with a view and a bed for whoever is keeping you company. This month, look up as you pass the campus after dark: the new tower is trimmed in pink light for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.