UT Southwestern, the massive medical center in Dallas' Medical District, is opening a new facility at RedBird Mall, that will expand healthcare services and provide more convenient access for residents in southern Dallas.

Called UT Southwestern Medical Center at RedBird, it will go into the former Sears department store, which was an anchor building at RedBird, and is slated to open in 2021.

RedBird is currently in the middle of an overall redevelopment dubbed Reimagine Redbird that includes new businesses and a multifamily, mixed-income residential building currently being built.

The center will be similar to UT Southwestern's other regional medical centers located in Frisco, Richardson/Plano, Park Cities, Fort Worth, and Las Colinas.

The facility will offer a range of care with an emphasis on specialty services. They already have some key specialties in mind but the release says that they'll seek additional input from community leaders and residents to make sure they're moving in the right direction.

UT Southwestern president Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky says in a release that the location will help serve patients in the southwest region of Dallas.

"As part of our mission to improve the health of our community, we are excited by the opportunities presented by this redevelopment effort to bring additional medical services to those living and working in southern Dallas," Podolsky says. "We admire the dedication of RedBird owner Peter Brodsky, who has demonstrated bold enthusiasm to invigorate RedBird into a model live-work community and created an outstanding location from which we can reaffirm our commitment to our patients and their families in this region of the city."

Dr. John Warner, UT Southwestern's executive VP says that convenience was key.

"Many of our patients travel from far and wide to the UT Southwestern main campus for care," Warner says. "We wanted to bring the care we offer closer to home, in this instance to the south side of our city."

UT Southwestern expects its regional center will go hand-in-hand with the initiative of its partner Parkland, which has committed to bringing primary care service to a 40,000-square-foot site it plans to develop at RedBird.

Brodsky, the majority owner of RedBird, says that medical services are part of a whole assortment of things that southern Dallas needs.

"RedBird seeks to provide southern Dallas families with the quality amenities they want, but which are not currently available in their community," he says. "In addition to lacking retail, restaurants, and entertainment, southern Dallas does not have enough medical facilities. Parkland's clinic at RedBird, announced earlier this year, began to address the issue."