A new $5 billion pediatric medical campus is planned for Dallas, with construction slated to begin on a 33-acre site adjacent to UT Southwestern Medical Center. The facility, named the Moody Children’s Hospital after the largest single donor, is scheduled to open in 2031. It will replace the existing Children’s Medical Center Dallas and connect to the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital via skybridge.
The project is supported by four gifts of $100 million or more from Texas-based funders. The first two major contributions arrived in 2024 from the Jean and Mack Pogue family and the Rees-Jones Foundation. This marked the first instance in Texas history where a nonprofit construction project received two separate individual donations of that magnitude.
The Moody Foundation, led by president and CEO Frances Moody-Dahlberg, provided the largest single gift among the group.
Children’s Health, a North Texas pediatric healthcare system, will own and operate the new campus. The facility will feature 552 beds distributed across three towers. Amenities will include a chapel, playrooms, music therapy spaces, and a library. The system currently treats more than 370,000 patients annually across its Dallas hospital and a location in Plano.
The Pogue Family Foundation, established in 2001, has a long history of supporting regional health initiatives. Over the past 40 years, the foundation has contributed more than $200 million to Children’s Health and UT Southwestern. Mack Pogue, who founded Lincoln Property Company, passed away shortly after his family’s recent gift. His father was a cotton gin operator.
This development highlights a broader trend of regional philanthropy in the Sun Belt. Donors in Texas and Florida are increasingly directing significant capital toward local institutions, moving away from traditional coastal wealth centers. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, founded in 1999 with roughly $5 billion, supports children and entrepreneurs.
