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Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | May 26, 2026
Scripps Health this week opened the Lusardi Tower at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, adding new inpatient and critical care capacity as part of a broader campus expansion in North County San Diego.
The 140,000-square-foot, three-story building began accepting patients May 20. The expansion increases the hospital’s licensed bed count from 187 to 235, according to Scripps.
The tower includes 36 medical-surgical beds, a 16-bed intensive care unit, a 16-bed postpartum unit connected to the hospital’s birth pavilion and a 26-bed perioperative unit for pre- and post-surgical care. The ground floor also houses a cafeteria for staff, patients and visitors.
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“The demand for healthcare services in North County continues to grow, and Scripps is investing in the region to ensure that we will be able to meet that demand in the coming decades,” Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, said in a statement.
The building is named for philanthropist Warner Lusardi and his late wife, Debbie Lusardi, following a $25 million donation that helped launch construction funding. Additional support came from other donors, including Gerry and Jeannie Ranglas, whose names are attached to the tower’s birth pavilion and ICU.
Scott Eisman, M.D., physician chief operating officer at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, said the project is intended to address increasing medical complexity and population growth in the region.
Construction took place within the existing hospital footprint, requiring work to continue alongside active clinical operations, Scripps said.
A second phase of the project remains under construction and is expected to be completed in 2029. That expansion will add surgical suites, a cardiac catheterization lab, interventional pulmonary and radiology suites and advanced imaging services.
The Lusardi Tower is the latest component of a multiyear expansion plan at the Encinitas campus. Previous projects included a medical office pavilion that opened in 2021 and the Leichtag Foundation Critical Care Pavilion, which opened in 2014 with an expanded emergency department and inpatient capacity.
