ROCHESTER — Mayo Clinic announced plans this morning for a $72.1 million project to add on five floors to the Mary Brigh East Building and renovate the third floor of the Domitilla Building at Saint Marys Hospital.

Both projects will begin in 2014 and are expected to be completed in early 2016.

“Hospitals are the location where care is delivered to the most complex and seriously ill patients,” said Dr. Amy Williams, medical director of hospital operations, in a press release. “Patient safety is of the utmost concern in the hospital setting and this project will meet the needs of the patient by creating a safe and welcoming environment that is patient and family focused.”

Currently, construction is finishing up on the first four floors of Mary Brigh East as part of a surgery expansion project to create a new post anesthesia care unit. The addition of five floors on top will include three floors for patient care units, each with 23 private rooms for a total of 69 private rooms, and the remaining two floors will be used for shell space and mechanical infrastructure. The new expansion will create an additional 131,800 square feet of finished space and 25,300 of shell space. Upon completion, Mary Brigh East will be nine floors.

This project is to replace 73 inpatient beds currently located in the Joseph Building, which was built in 1922 and has become outdated. Once the renovation is completed, the Joseph Building will be used for hospital-based staff clinical support space.

The expansion will provide patients with private rooms and increase the space in the rooms to allow patients and staff to move around the bed perimeter. Ceiling lifts will be installed for patient and staff safety, and patients will have private bathrooms and showers. Each room will offer sufficient space for family members to stay overnight and include additional in-room workspace for staff.

The renovation to the third floor of the Domitilla Building, which currently houses one of the largest adult general care inpatient units at Mayo Clinic, will modernize the unit by providing private patient rooms with bathrooms and showers and adding ceiling lifts.

“We pursued this expansion to meet the patients’ needs, ensure a safe environment and to improve the patients’ overall hospital experience,” Williams said in a press release. “The new areas are designed to continue to provide high-quality care to our patients for many years to come.”

The expansion and renovation at Saint Marys Hospital supports the Destination Medical Center’s infrastructure by investing in improvements to increase the quality of care delivered to patients.