Peter Gilgan, billionaire and founder of Mattamy Homes, is donating $30-million to build a new patient care tower specifically designed for critically ill patients at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

The 17-storey Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower, to be located at the northeast corner of Queen and Victoria Streets, is the single largest donation in St. Michael’s 122-year history.

“This generous donation by Peter Gilgan will transform patient care at St. Michael’s Hospital and help us achieve our goal of becoming the premier critical care hospital in Canada,” said Dr. Robert Howard, the hospital’s president and chief-executive-officer.

Some highlights of the 250,000-square-foot tower include two new intensive care units, five new purpose-built operating rooms and private patient rooms with comfortable, dedicated family space.

“I am so impressed with the quality, skill and professionalism of the doctors, nurses and health care workers at St. Mike’s who day in and day out do incredible work with quite frankly not the best facilities,” said Gilgan.

Doctors at St. Michael’s, a hospital accredited to care for the most severely injured patients in the Greater Toronto Area and South Central Ontario, are now looking forward to more space and innovative equipment to meet the needs of patients with time-sensitive conditions.

Construction is expected to take three years beginning January 2015.