Healthcare

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System will break ground on a $155 million medical office plaza at Texas Medical Center in Houston in October 2004. Housing over 500,000 sf and a 2,400-car parking garage, the facility will accommodate up to 200 physicians. With restaurant and retail occupying the first two floors, the building will house a 100,000-sf ambulatory care center with eight surgical suites, four endoscopy suites, and a full modality imaging center.

Seton Healthcare Network has selected the Austin office of Clarksdale, Miss.-based White Construction to manage the construction of the new Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. Sited on the former Robert Mueller Airport in Central Austin, the 470,000-sf state-of-the-art pediatric center will triple the footprint of the existing Children's Hospital of Austin which it will replace. Slated for completion in 2007, the 169-bed hospital is estimated to cost approximately $200 million. Construction will begin in fall 2004.

Naval Hospital Jacksonville has received $28.4 million from a military construction appropriations bill passed by the U.S. Senate to fund 43,000 sf of renovations and construction of a 75,000-sf, four-story addition to the existing medical building. The project will focus on improvements to the surgical and labor and delivery departments.

The National Institutes of Health opened the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center in Bethesda, Md., on September 22, 2004. Totally dedicated to clinical research, the 870,000-sf Hatfield Center connects to the existing Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center.

The University of Texas Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Center in Weatherford will expand its Foster Lane facility to house a 3,500-sf oncology clinic. The expansion is part of a $1.8-million technology upgrade to accommodate a $1.15-million Varian 21EX-d linear accelerator that provides intensity modulated radiation therapy. The linear accelerator will be installed by early 2005 with construction on the clinic slated for completion in late spring 2005.

Boston University Medical Center, Boston University, and the city of Boston celebrated the topping off of the eight-story BioSquare 3 in Boston in September 2004. Being the third lab and research facility on the 14-acre campus, the 160,000-sf building is 60 percent pre-leased to Boston University and Boston University Medical Center. Completion is expected in fall 2005.

Carolinas HealthCare System broke ground in September 2004 on the $85-million Levine Children's Hospital at the Carolinas Medical Center complex in Charlotte, N.C. Additionally, Carolinas is planning a $5-million expansion of the complex that will connect the children's hopital, the ICU Tower, and the existing facility on the site. Constructed in tandem with the children's hospital, the 22,000-sf addition will expand the pharmacy and cafeteria and is slated for completion in 2007.

California Pacific Medical Center opened its $22-million Kanbar Cardiac Center in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 2004. Housing therapies including angiograms, treadmill tests, stress echo tests, cardiac catheterization, and EKGs, the 12,000-sf facility consolidates two prior cardiac catheterization labs and provides space for a new electrophysiology lab.

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department has awarded a $450,000 contract to architectural firm NBBJ to design a $95 million VA Clinic in Columbus, Ohio. Ground will be broken in early 2005 on the 295,000-sf facility, which will replace the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Outpatient Clinic.

Ridgecrest Regional Hospital is preparing to begin construction on a $5.9-million Outpatient Services Center/Medical Office Building in Ridgecrest, Calif. Project contractor McCarthy will build a new 25,935-sf, two-level facility sited next to the existing hospital. The first floor will house outpatient services, ancillary space including a lobby and reception area, administrative offices, a staff lounge, and other support functions. The second floor will be shelled out for future occupancy of physician medical office space.

Wichita Clinic broke ground on August 26, 2004 on a 120,000-sf day surgery center and medical office complex at Founders' Circle in Wichita, Kan. Designed by architectural firm Wilson Darnell Mann , the $26-million facility will house an 8,000-sf digital imaging center and provide services in pain management, orthopedics, ear, nose, and throat, physical therapy, opthalmology, and general surgery. The general contractor for the project is Hutton Construction. Construction is expected to reach completion in fall of 2005.

John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System plans to consolidate the two-hospital system’s cardiac care in a new Cardiovascular Center of Excellence by 2009. The center will be constructed adjacent to the existing 254-bed Mt. Diablo Medical Center in Concord , Calif., as part of a broader $110 million upgrade. John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System is planning upgrades to both locations totaling over $400 million that will include modernization of patient rooms and access, seismic retrofitting, and enhancements to clinical areas of excellence.

Cape Fear Valley Health System has awarded Skanska USA Building Inc. the construction management services assignment to build an addition to the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville , N.C. The 300,000-sf, $90 million project consists of a patient care tower including an emergency department; inpatient imaging; a heart and vascular center; a 24-bed critical care unit; a 48-bed medical surgical unit; and mechanical support. Also included will be a parking deck for 500 cars and 50,000 sf of renovations to the existing hospital.

Centene Corp., a provider of managed care programs services, is planning to open a 50,000-sf processing facility on 25 acres in Great Falls , Mont. The first stage of the project describes the completion of an 8,000-sf temporary facility in November 2004 with the permanent structure scheduled to open in July 2005. The initial cost of the project is estimated at $7 million.

Children's Mercy Hospital South in Overland Park, Kan. has completed an expansion that quadrupled the hospital's size from 47,580 sf to 189,000 sf. Increasing bed count from 17 to 50, the project also expanded the urgent care center, radiology, and lab space and added two inpatient units. The cost of the project, which began in July 2002, was over $30 million.