Healthcare

Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco recently broke ground on a 25,000-sf emergency department addition and renovation project. As builder McCarthy constructs the new ER addition, renovation of the existing adjacent facilities will also be completed. A new medical center entrance will integrate the new and renovated areas of the facility. Completion of the $5.7-million project, designed by architect PageSoutherlandPage, is expected in October 2003.

Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), the research arm of Oakland's Children's Hospital, has opened the Nutrition Genomics Center. The research center was funded by an $8-million gift to renovate and equip 14,000 sf of office space.  

Episcopal Hospital has been transformed by Temple University Health System into a 114-bed psychiatric-care facility. In the next 12 to 15 months the hospital's emergency department will be expanded and the waiting and registration areas remodeled. The hospital's last 24-bed unit will open in September or October of 2002. The $9-million behavioral health renovation is part of Temple's $43-million system overhaul plan announced in 2000.

Orix Real Estate Equities of Chicago is planning to build Washingtonian South, a two-building, 350,000-sf Class A office complex and parking structure in Gaithersburg. Located on a 7.4-acre site in the mixed-use Washingtonian Center business park, the development will be marketed to health and life science tenants. Construction is slated to begin in the fall.  

Sibley Memorial Hospital, a 340-bed, full-service hospital in Northwest D.C., is planning a new $10-million cancer center expected to open in fall of this year. Significantly increasing radiation therapy treatment capacity, the new single story 14,000-sf addition will be funded by $40 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds. The bonds will also help pay for the 8.5-acre site adjacent to the hospital purchased from the Army Corps of Engineers on which part of the cancer center will be located.

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has contracted the D.C. office of URS as technical consultant for a new cancer research building. The original cancer research building was also designed by URS, an architectural and engineering services firm.

UNC Hospitals is planning to build a $150- to $200-million heart center in five to seven years. The building will consolidate cardiac care services including cardiology, cardiac testing, vascular services, and cardio-thoracic and pulmonary clinics. These services are currently housed in five separate buildings on the UNC Hospital's Chapel Hill campus. The new facility will also house inpatient beds and operating rooms.

Regional Medical Center San Jose is designing a new hospital at its 30-acre site in East San Jose. Plans for the new hospital, developed by HCA Inc., will be submitted to the state within a year, with anticipated approval the following year. The facility will eventually replace San Jose Medical Center, which will close in four years. Regional plans approximately 250 beds in the new facility, which will feature an emergency department with trauma room and helipad, triple the size of its former 7,000-sf unit.

UNC Hospitals is planning to replace the Gravely Building, home of the North Carolina Clinical Cancer Center, with a new $140-million cancer tower in Chapel Hill. The 300,000-sf facility will provide complete outpatient cancer care, housing physician and specialist offices, radiation and chemotherapy facilities, and a pharmacy. Part of UNC's facility master plan, the cancer tower, which has yet to be designed, will be developed over the next five years.

Duke University Medical Center in Durham plans to increase outpatient treatment capacity from 80 to 125 patients per day with a $3.5-million renovation of its comprehensive cancer center. Duke will add 10 treatment stations and 27 waiting room chairs.

Children’s Hospital of San Diego is installing a 3.4-megawatt co-generation system that will supply approximately 98% of the 200-bed hospital’s power. The system, funded in part by a $2-million loan from the California Energy Commission, will be fueled by natural gas. The generation process will produce 99% of the heat needed for space heating, sterilization, and hot water.

George Washington University Hospital is moving into a new 371-bed, six-level hospital in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington. The $100-million facility is the first hospital to open in the District in 25 years. Replacing a 501-bed hospital, the new building will feature increased technological and digital capacities. In addition to $20-million in equipment purchased over the last several years, the hospital will acquire $25-million in new equipment. Upon opening, operations of the hospital will be 85% digital, with completely digital operations within 18 months.

Howard County General Hospital is opening its new expanded emergency department in early July. The Columbia hospital’s new unit is three times as large as the previous emergency department, and is divided into three specific care levels: a pediatric care pod, an urgent care pod, and an acute care pod. The new emergency department will accommodate 70,000 patients annually.

INOVA Health Systems has selected the Washington, D.C. office of Turner Construction Company to construct the new INOVA Heart Institute in Falls Church. The $60-million project is scheduled for completion in January 2004. The architect is Wilmot/Sanz of Gaithersburg, Md.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is developing a $5-million cell-processing lab in the Longwood Medical area of Boston. Funded in part by Bethesda's National Institutes of Health (NIH), the facility will consolidate operations now located in several labs near the hospital. The 6,500-sf lab, located in the Jimmy Fund building, will feature state-of-the-art cell-manufacturing, cleanrooms, and air-purification systems. With separate rooms for different experiments, the facility will allow for expansion and diversification of processing functions.