University Hospital will be making its first big move across the Savannah River when it sets up a medical office complex in south Aiken County. The move will not only increase its market share there but also make it more convenient for Aiken patients already going to University, officials said.

The hospital's board voted Thursday to spend $2.4 million to buy 7.4 acres on Silver Bluff Road near Woodside Plantation. Phase 1 of the development will set up a 12,000-square-foot office suite, which will be developed by the physicians interested in moving in, said University Executive Vice President Andrew Lasser. Three practices -- Medical Oncology Associates, Covenant Pediatrics and Dr. Stephen Youmans, a family medicine physician in Aiken -- have expressed interest, Dr. Lasser said.

Future growth could include more offices, an imaging center or lab services, officials said.

About one-third of University's patients come from South Carolina, and almost 20 percent come from Aiken, officials said.

"And many of them from around in that area," said J. Larry Read, CEO of University Health Care System. "So it just makes good sense for us to have a greater presence in that area. This is a nice way to get started, and then watch it grow."

University has been thinking about the move for a couple of years but had not found a suitable property, Dr. Lasser said. South Aiken is expected to grow 8.2 percent by 2012, double the county's projected growth rate of 4.1 percent, he said.

"It's a fast-growing part of Aiken County and one that has rapid access to us," he said.

The board also voted to:

- Spend up to $6.4 million to buy replacement digital imaging equipment for the cardiac catheterization labs in its new cardiovascular center, to open in February. The hospital would also add a second electrophysiology lab in the new center.

- Receive a $1 million dividend from its captive insurance company, Walton Way Indemnity. The company, which allows University to cover its own malpractice insurance coverage and buy coverage for its excess liability, has proved so successful that the premium dropped $540,000 this year.