Healthcare

Kaiser Permanente is opening its new 102,000-sf Elk Grove, Calif. medical office building in early September 2003. The three-story, $34-million facility will accommodate 62 providers and 180 support staff engaged in obstetrics/gynecology, adult medicine, pediatrics, optometry, optical sales, radiology, psychiatry, laboratory, and pharmacy. The building will feature a health education center and Mohs skin cancer surgery services. The Elk Grove facility is part of Kaiser’s $1.6-billion 10-year development plan for the Greater Sacramento area.

Northside Hospital-Forsyth is planning a $23-million expansion of its Cumming, Ga., emergency department. A two-story, 39,000-sf structure and a 12,500-sf addition will be constructed, and 16,900 sf of existing space will be renovated. The project, which more than doubles the size of the department, will also provide expanded radiology imaging capacity.

Palo Alto Medical Foundation is planning the $23-million Clark Building, a 39,000-sf addition to the 300,000-sf medical clinic. Located adjacent to Stanford University, the space will house physician offices and the clinic’s sports medicine services. Plans are expected to be approved in October 2003. Funding for the building comes in part from a $5-million donation from the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation.

Sutter Tracy Community Hospital broke ground on its $23-million expansion in August 2003. The obstetrics department will be expanded by half, with four new patient rooms, a classroom, and a larger waiting room area. The number of treatment bays in the emergency room will increase from 9 to 14, with the waiting room expanding fivefold and the addition of a new waiting area for children. The existing surgery center will be remodeled, and a new 9,600-sf surgery center with 12 new outpatient rooms and facilities for ambulatory surgery procedures will be constructed.

Baptist Health System has contracted QORE Property Science of Jacksonville, Fla., to provide quality control services on two major construction projects in Jacksonville. Baptist Medical Center will expand with a four-story addition and four-story parking garage. Baptist South, a new 92-bed hospital, will be constructed on the Southside. Both projects are slated for completion in 12 months.

Southwest Washington Medical Center will develop a $123-million expansion of its Medical Center Campus on the 2.5-acre former Chrysler/Plymouth auto dealership site in Vancouver, Wash. The facility will add new surgery suites and 82 patient beds.

Ambulatory Surgery Centers of America is developing the Rockwall Surgery Center, a 9,000-sf freestanding outpatient surgery center sited on 1.2 acres in Rockwall, Texas. Construction will begin in September 2003 on the $5-million facility which will open in March 2004. The facility will house three operating rooms and will provide orthopedic, general surgery, gynecology, colon and rectal, colonoscopy, ear-nose-throat, podiatry, and pain management services. Ambulatory Surgery Centers, a physician-owned company headquartered in Norwell, Mass., will manage the new facility.

The University of South Florida College of Nursing has received a $750,000 donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida to establish the Center for Advanced Nursing. Matched by funds from the state’s Facility Enhancement Challenge Grant Program, the facility will be a major component of the new USF Healthcare & Education Center that will house the College of Nursing and a center for integrated education and clinical care.

St. Mary Medical Center has opened a 16,000-sf, 40-bed inpatient care wing at its Langhorne, Pa. campus. The facility, constructed in six months in early 2003, features 19 pre-engineered modules that were assembled over a four-day period in May with a hydraulic crane.

Sutter Health will open a 60,000-sf clinic in San Rafael, Calif., by year-end 2003. The facility will house doctor’s offices, lab and radiology facilities, a pharmacy, occupational health services, and an urgent care center. Sutter is also bringing online four outpatient labs in Marin County at a cost of approximately $400,000 each. The labs are located in San Rafael, Larkspur, and Mill Valley.

The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System (UPMC) is relocating to the campus of the former St. Francis Medical Center in the Lawrenceville area of Pittsburgh, Pa. This $575 million replacement hospital will house approximately 900,000-sf of clinical, procedure, treatment, support, and research space. Occupancy of the Lawrenceville hospital is expected in late spring of 2009.

Seton Healthcare Network is planning to construct a 451,000-sf, 164-bed children’s hospital in Austin, Texas. Sited on 30 acres at the 709-acre former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, the $175-million facility is expected to break ground in 2004 and open in 2007. Adjacent to the new hospital, 100,000 sf of medical office space is planned  at a construction cost of approximately $30-million. 

Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., is engaged in a $70-million renovation of its women’s services area including labor, delivery, and the neonatal ICU. Hyde Inc. Interior Design of Towson, Md., has been contracted to work on the 210,000-sf project, which also includes expansion of the hospital’s ambulatory care zone and the creation of a new emergency department and a new community outreach/education wing. Hyde is also designing a new 72,000-sf professional office building for Holy Cross.

St. Elizabeth’s Hospital has begun construction on its new 130,000-sf Unified Communications Center in Washington, D.C. Serving as the communications hub for various agencies including first response, fire, police, and possibly a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the facility will receive secure telecommunications services through DC-Net, the District’s high-speed network. Additionally, a new mental hospital is under construction next to the existing hospital campus.

The University of Kansas Medical Center opened its $21-million sixth floor expansion in early July 2003. One-third of the 80,000-sf project will be used immediately for a 22-bed medical/surgical unit and a 14-bed intensive care unit. The other two-thirds of the facility will be used as patient volumes increase. A new helicopter landing pad will be ready in mid-August 2003.