When Summerlin Hospital Medical Center expanded one of its original towers by 90 beds in 2004, officials predicted it would take five years for the new facility to reach capacity.

Within five months, the beds were full, said Tim Hingtgen, CEO and managing director of the 281-bed acute care facility.

"This community is not done growing yet,'' he said Tuesday, explaining the hospital's $100-million expansion plan slated for the next two years.

Growth is the engine behind expansion plans.

The expansion will nearly double the hospital's capacity to 450 beds and include a six-story patient tower with labor and delivery rooms, critical care, and medical and post-operative beds. The hospital will also expand its 17-bed neonatal intensive care unit.

Groundbreaking for the new tower is scheduled for this winter and the entire project is expected to be complete sometime in 2009.

The first phase will include a four-story parking structure scheduled to open next month. The parking structure is first on the list because parking can be a problem for patients seeking inpatient or outpatient care, officials said.

During that phase, the hospital's emergency room will double in size, bringing on 30 more beds.

The emergency room will also have a five-bed chest pain center and a fast-track treatment area for patients with minor injuries or illnesses.

"Every unit of this hospital is at capacity, from the emergency room to critical care, to our maternal child unit, which is incredibly 'under-bedded,' '' Hingtgen said. "Some days the hospital is above 100 percent capacity."

With the expansion also comes a need for more medical staff, Hingtgen said.

Ron Winkler, head of recruiting for Summerlin Hospital, said his staff is seeking to hire between 200 and 300 nurses, pharmacy and laboratory technicians, physical therapists and support personnel to staff the first expansion phase. Recruiters are also looking to attract more physicians to the area.

With a nationwide nursing shortage, Winkler said, he expects recruiting to be a little challenging. Recruiting is already under way in Nevada and other states, he said.

"Most people we have interviewed for positions with us from out of state will take the chance to come out here,'' Winkler said. "I would say 75 percent of the people we are interested in, we bring on board.''

Hingtgen said there are also plans to add an additional 80,000-square-foot medical office building and another parking structure in the near future. Currently, the hospital's 200,000-square-foot medical office building is at capacity, he said.