The Cramer Tower project at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth has a new state filing outlining a $148.4 million, seven-story hospital bed tower. Planned at 6100 Harris Parkway in Fort Worth, the addition would bring approximately 215,000 square feet to the existing campus.
The registration lists construction from February 14, 2027, through March 13, 2029. Those are filing estimates, rather than a confirmed patient opening date. Behind the numbers is a story about a growing community—and a family whose connection to this hospital began before it opened.
Cramer Tower: More Room for a Growing Community
Texas Health’s expansion overview describes a broader $223 million investment in the Southwest campus. Its previously announced plans include 64 additional patient beds, unfinished space for future growth, and modernization of six original operating rooms.
The hospital opened in 1987. Since then, its surrounding communities—including Benbrook, Crowley, Aledo, and Granbury—have grown alongside southwest Fort Worth. Texas Health says the expansion will increase capacity for more complex care and help its surgical department accommodate robotic and other procedures.
For readers, that gives the project a practical local connection: additional space for patients and an investment in the hospital’s existing surgical facilities. The operating-room renovations belong to the broader expansion program; the new registration specifically describes a hospital bed tower.
The Family Story Behind Cramer Tower
Long before the tower had a name, the hospital site was prairie land. According to Texas Health’s naming announcement, Jud Cramer and the health system’s then-CEO explored possible locations in an Oldsmobile Toronado during the 1980s. They anticipated that Fort Worth would grow toward the southwest.
Decades later, Jud’s daughter Karen Cramer made the gift that led Texas Health to name the new patient tower in her honor. Her support continued a family connection to healthcare while helping shape the campus’s future.
Karen died in June 2026. Her published obituary identifies the future tower as part of her legacy of support for healthcare and the community. That history gives Cramer Tower a connection to both the hospital’s beginnings and its next generation of patients.
What the Cramer Tower Filing Says
Registration TABS2027000590 lists an estimated cost of $148,367,740 for a privately funded addition to an existing building. Its scope describes a new seven-story, 215,000-square-foot hospital bed tower at the Harris Parkway address. The project is registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
The filing differs from Texas Health’s November 2025 announcement, which described a five-story tower, construction beginning in 2026, and the first two patient floors opening in 2028. The registration instead lists a February 2027 start and March 2029 completion.
These records may describe different phases or reflect revised plans. They do not, by themselves, confirm a delay or explain the difference in floor counts. Likewise, the tower filing’s $148.4 million estimate covers a different stated scope from the hospital’s broader $223 million expansion and renovation program.
For now, the clearest update is the registered tower scope and its listed construction window. A confirmed opening schedule and an explanation of the differing plans would need to come from Texas Health.