Trios Health, owned by LifePoint Health, debuted the $22 million Trios Birth Center on March 29 at Trios Southridge Hospital, 3810 Plaza Way, Kennewick.

The 23,376-square-foot addition occupies two floors that connect to the hospital above the emergency room, on the second and third floors.

It includes two dedicated rooms for cesarean section deliveries, six labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum rooms and a 10-bed critical care nursery.

Nearly 10,000 square feet of existing hospital space was renovated for the project, including converting 11 beds from the medical/surgical floors to serve as postpartum beds.

The move sparked a separate $6 million project to replace that space in the hospital, which opened in 2014.

With the opening of its new birth center at Southridge, Trios closed its Family Birth Center at the former Kennewick General Hospital, which welcomed Tri-Citians for 70 years.

The move consolidates Trios at a single location with 111 beds, which is unchanged.

Layton Construction was the general contractor. It remains on the hospital campus for the medical/surgical expansion project.