Artist's rendering of the planned Cambridge North Tower expansion project at Kansas University Hospital.

Kansas University Hospital’s Cambridge North Patient Tower is still under construction, and the hospital already has decided to expand it right away instead of waiting, as previously planned.

With patient volume as high as it’s been, the new tower is expected to be full as soon as it opens in 2017, hospital President and CEO Bob Page said in a news release this week.

When first announced in 2014, the tower was planned as a seven-story building with 92 beds and 12 operating rooms, with the option to construct four additional floors at a future time, according to the hospital’s announcement. The Hospital Authority Board voted instead to keep construction equipment on site and begin building the four additional floors as soon as the main project opens.

Artist's rendering of the planned Cambridge North Tower expansion project at Kansas University Hospital.

The additional floors are expected to open in 2018, according to the hospital. One will be immediately prepared for patients, with an additional 32 beds. The other three will be “shelled-in” for future expansion.

Cambridge North Patient Tower is going up at 39th and Cambridge streets in Kansas City, Kan., just northeast of the existing hospital buildings

A large portion of the originally $270 million — now $320 million — project is being funded by donations. The hospital has a goal of raising $100 million through philanthropy, $42 million of which has been raised since groundbreaking.