City officials topped out a “critical” portion of the first full-service hospital to open in D.C. in more than two decades last week, according to a release from the Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The release states that Bowser and members of the community signed the last steel beam for the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health last Thursday to celebrate a milestone for the project, which they expect to complete in 2025. The release states that the hospital on the St. Elizabeths East Campus will join with GW Hospital, two urgent care centers and other providers to offer “robust” care for all D.C. residents, particularly those living east of the Anacostia River in Southeast D.C.

The Medical Faculty Associates and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences will staff the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health with physicians and practitioners and Children’s National Hospital will provide infant and pediatric care staff, according to the release.

The release states that the hospital expects to hire 550 full-time employees for services and care coordination once it is completed and include a trauma center, a helipad for emergency transports, adult and pediatric emergency departments, clinics and maternal health and delivery.

“When we open Cedar Hill, this will be a facility that residents can trust, a hospital that is modern and financially stable,” Bowser said in the release. “Today, I am grateful for all the workers, health care partners, and teams who are helping me keep this promise and delivering D.C.’s first new full-service hospital in over 20 years.”

Bowser kicked off construction on Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health in February 2022 to service Southeast D.C., which is majority Black and disproportionately affected by COVID-19. LaQuandra Nesbitt, the former director of DC Health and the bicentennial-endowed professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, will lead planning and implementation of clinical, education and research programs at the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center.

University Health Services, a health care provider that owns GW Hospital after the University sold their 20 percent stake last May, opened Cedar Hill Urgent Care in October as the first urgent care center in Ward 8.