Children's Legacy Campus

The board of Children's Medical Center Dallas has hired FKP Architects Inc. of Houston to develop a plan that, if it comes to fruition, could add high-demand specialties like a pediatrics nursing school, research facilities, school of allied health, school of pharmacy and therapeutic aquatics or equestrian centers to the under-construction campus, which has three-eighths mile frontage along Preston Road and one-quarter mile along Hedgcoxe Road. The master plan is to be done by June so it can be reviewed and ready to go to the board in September, Lou Saksen, vice president of facilities for Children's Medical Center Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com.

"These are dreams right now," Saksen stresses. "We haven't pursued them yet."

Although planning is in the early stages, he says it's not unrealistic to envision a groundbreaking in 2010. He also says future plans most likely will include more partners than just UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "But, we will talk to them to see if they're interested in taking our research space," he adds.