Healthcare

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburg has initiated construction on OR1, a high-tech operating room that will expand the hospital’s Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery. The $750,000-project, slated for completion in June 2004, is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania. OR1 will facilitate minimally invasive procedures using surgical equipment and tiny cameras, inserted through small incisions, which are electronically integrated and controlled by simple voice commands.

Ohio State University is engaged in a major expansion of its cancer program that could total $400 million in construction projects over the next ten years. Doubling the capacity of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute, the project will include 725,000 sf to 785,000 sf of new development and 170,000 sf to 190,000 sf of renovation on the University's Columbus campus. Site selection will occur in the next 12 to 18 months. A search for proposals from architectural, engineering, and construction management firms is under way.

The American Red Cross will expand with a relocation of its headquarters in June 2004 to 30,000-sf in the Seton Industrial Park in Baltimore. Housing all the chapter departments including health and safety, youth services, and emergency services, the facility will also be the home of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center.

Ohio State University Hospital East broke ground on a new expanded emergency department on March 31, 2004. Occupying renovated space on the south side of the Columbus, Ohio, hospital, the $4.8 million, 15,000-sf facility will feature 26 private rooms, two specialized suites for patients with breathing disorders, and a larger waiting room. Designed by Spice Constantino Architects of Cleveland, the new department more than doubles the footprint of the previous 7,000-sf emergency department.

Cumberland Medical Center has selected Birmingham-based Robins & Morten Group to construct a 178,000-sf addition and renovation of its Crossville, Tenn., facility. The $26.5-million project is comprised of a five-story obstetrics tower and lobby and the expansion and renovation of the medical center’s emergency room. Groundbreaking is slated for fall of 2004.

St. Joseph Health System has selected McCarthy Building Companies of Newport Beach, Calif., to construct a major expansion at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, Calif. The four-story, $75-million St. Joseph Hospital Patient Care Center will deliver 240,000 sf of additional space to the historic 75-year-old facility. The project broke ground on March 19, 2004 and is scheduled for completion in April 2007.

The $26-million Ranken Jordan Pediatric Rehabilitation Center is under construction on 12.5 acres in Maryland Heights, Mo. Designed by 527 Architects PC, the 60,000-sf facility will feature larger semi-private patient rooms. Five distinct areas--nursing, therapy, support services, social services, and recreational therapy and education--branch off a central indoor courtyard. A $2-million outdoor recreation area will feature a baseball field, basketball court, and challenge walks.

Richardson Regional Medical Center is partnering with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to create a 50,000-sf comprehensive cancer center in Richardson, Texas. Sited on Richardson Regional’s George Bush/Renner Campus, the $20-million facility is slated for completion in late 2005.

Carolinas HealthCare System is planning a $29.4-million expansion of Carolinas Medical Center-University in Charlotte, N.C. that will involve the expansion and renovation of the hospital’s emergency department, a new outpatient entrance, and additional parking and energy capacity. The project will also include a 36,000-sf Women’s Center with 33 private delivery rooms, four observation rooms, and eight neonatal-care beds which will double the size of the neonatal intensive care nursery.

Kings County Medical Center has selected Architecture+ of Troy, N.Y., to design a $105-million behavioral health clinic in Brooklyn. RBS&D Architects of New York are also on the project team.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin construction of a $110-million medical research facility called MRB IV on its Nashville, Tenn., campus in May 2004. Adding 200,000 sf of research space, the project will add three research floors on top of Light Hall and five research floors and two vivarium floors above Langford Auditorium. Connecting the two buildings, MRB IV features a total of 86 lab modules, a glass atrium spanning several floors, and conference space. Completion is slated for summer of 2006.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center is constructing a $60-million integrated ophthalmology center for the Hamilton Eye Institute at its Memphis campus. Combining research, academic, clinic, and surgery space, the facility will develop advanced treatments for the management of ocular diseases and complex vision problems.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is planning a $115-million, 11-story research facility on its main Cincinnati campus. The 363,000-sf building will accommodate research facilities, labs, offices, and the Center for Computational Medicine, an interdisciplinary center housing human genetics, environmental health, epidemiology, mathematics, medicine, and biomedical engineering research. Scientists in the facility will be grouped according to research theme instead of academic division or department. Construction is expected to begin in summer of 2004 with completion in 2007.

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center is expanding and remodeling four major departments at its 37-acre Glendale, Ariz., campus.

Banner Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa, Ariz. ,completed the $13-million expansion and renovation of its cardiovascular ICU and telemetry nursing suites in January 2004. Designed by van Dijk Westlake Reed Leskosky of Phoenix, Ariz., the project included the fit-out of 32,000-sf of shell space on the hospital’s fifth floor for new cardiovascular ICU rooms and telemetry, a new elevator tower, and the remodel of an existing telemetry unit on the fourth floor.