Dallas’ new children’s hospital is getting a $100 million injection to go toward the $5 billion facility’s construction, Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center announced Wednesday.
The gift from Jean and Mack Pogue, the late founder of Lincoln Property Co., is the largest donation yet to the pediatric campus that will replace Children’s Medical Center Dallas. It’s also one of only four philanthropic gifts of its size publicly announced in North Texas history, according to Children’s.
In honor of the gift from the Pogue family, the new campus’ 33-acre site will be named Pogue Park, encompassing green space that surrounds the medical buildings that are set to open in about seven years.
“Mack and I have had the blessing of being able to support Children’s Health and UT Southwestern for many years, knowing how much they impact the well-being of patients and communities they serve,” Jean Pogue said. Our family is proud to play a part in helping build the new Dallas pediatric campus. We’re beyond grateful for the difference it will make for future generations of children.”
Not-for-profit Children’s and UT Southwestern announced plans for the new campus in February, detailing a 2-million-square-foot hospital that will include two 12-story towers and an eight-story tower located on the corner of Harry Hines Boulevard and Mockingbird Lane, about a mile and a half away from the current campus.
The massive facility will house 552 beds, a 38% increase from the current medical center. The only Level I pediatric trauma center in the region will include 90 emergency room pods and 24 observation rooms, while a new outpatient clinic will add 96 exam rooms to the 344 that will continue to operate at the existing Specialty Center Dallas on Stemmons.
Children’s and UT Southwestern, which reaffirmed their master agreement in 2019, have not yet launched a public fundraising campaign for the new facility. Funding for the project will come from a mix of hospital revenues, interest from investments, debt and community support that includes philanthropic donations.
“This is really an important inflection point,” said UT Southwestern president Dr. Daniel Podolsky. “Having the Pogue stamp of approval is getting us started on what is an absolutely necessary part of the equation for this all to happen.”
The relationship between Children’s Health, UT Southwestern and the Pogue family spans decades and predates even current hospital leadership. Mack, who died earlier this year, and Jean have given a cumulative $200 million to the two health systems over the past 40 years. In Mack’s obituary published in The Dallas Morning News, the Pogue family asked that donations made in his honor be directed to the Children’s Medical Center Foundation, and UT Southwestern to support Alzheimer’s research, in addition to the animal rescue Operation Kindness.
Discussions about the latest donation were fluid and began long before the new hospital had been captured in renderings.
“When you get ready to take on one of the largest initiatives you’ve ever tried to take on, and certainly the largest initiative in a collaborative partnership between the two institutions, you start first with the folks who were closest to you,” said Brent Christopher, president of the Children’s Medical Center Foundation. “And Jean and Mack were among the folks who are closest to us.”
Mack Pogue, known as “Big Mack” by his family, launched Lincoln Property Co. in partnership with Dallas developer Trammell Crow in 1965 on Lincoln’s birthday. He grew the real estate firm into one of the largest in the country and oversaw the development of the huge Village apartment community in northeast Dallas that has over 11,000 residents.
Despite Lincoln Property’s success, Mack was known to keep a low profile. He and Jean, his wife of nearly 65 years, had two sons, nine grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Jean’s love for flowers and nature informed the hospital’s decision to name the hospital grounds in the Pogue family’s honor. Green space will play a prominent role in the new campus so that patients and families can find respite outside of a hospital environment.
The event announcing the donation Wednesday was as much about celebrating Mack’s life and the Pogue family’s generosity as it was about marking the milestone for the new pediatric hospital.
“It’s not only about the $100 million, it’s about people who can see what needs to be done,” said Children’s Health CEO and president Christopher Durovich. “It’s people who could see not only what needed to be done, but what was required to make it a reality and have said ‘I want to be a part of that.’”
Medical buildings typically last around 50 to 60 years, meaning the current Children’s Medical Center Dallas is reaching the end of its life span. Simultaneously, the North Texas population is ballooning, with the pediatric population nearing 2.5 million, a number that’s expected to double by 2050, Children’s reports.
The new hospital will expand to match the region’s growing needs. In total, the 4.5 million-square-foot campus will be larger than AT&T Stadium and as long as nearly six Boeing 737 planes end to end.
Contractors are set to step foot on the hospital site within days, Podolsky said. The health systems will host a formal groundbreaking this fall.
