Healthcare

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is planning to construct a new breast cancer research institute funded by a $7-million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Designed to allow investigators to better collaborate on research findings, the facility will feature state-of-the-art laboratories and additional research space. The University of Wisconsin was awarded a similar grant last year for the creation of a research institute on prostate cancer.

Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver is initiating an $80-million redevelopment project comprised of 100,000 sf of renovated space and 100,000 sf of new construction. The first phase of the development, a new emergency department housing state-of-the-art surgery suites, opened June 29, 2004 . The project also includes a two-story entryway and 36 new intensive care beds combining cardiac and surgical units. Completion is expected by year-end 2006.

Denton Regional Medical Center broke ground in May 2004 on the 13,500-sf Day Surgery Center in Denton, Texas. Slated for completion in early 2005, the $7-million facility is sited on a two-acre plot adjacent to Denton Regional’s existing hospital. The facility will provide space for colonoscopies, gall bladder removal, tonsillectomies, and gastrointestinal procedures. Developed by Ambulatory Surgery Center, a subsidiary of Irving-based HCA, the facility is being constructed by Thomas H. Byrne of Fort Worth.

Metropolitan Urology held a groundbreaking ceremony on June 30, 2004 for a $3-million facility sited on 1.7 acres in Jeffersonville, Ind. Serving as Metropolitan Urology’s headquarters for its multi-office practice, the two-story, 27,000-sf building will house clinical space, new procedure and imaging wings, and medical and research offices. Completion is expected in one year.

Daybreak Youth Services is planning to construct a $10-million inpatient treatment center on three acres of land recently purchased in Vancouver, Wash. Plans describe a 38,000-sf, 48-bed facility providing substance abuse treatment for teens. With locations in Spokane and Vancouver, Daybreak serves nearly 1,000 inpatient and outpatient teens each year.

Kaiser Permanente opened a new 50,000-sf clinical laboratory in Richmond , Calif., in April 2004. Augmenting an existing 100,000-sf laboratory in Berkeley , the high technology facility will handle 25,000 lab specimens daily, including immunohematology, toxicology, immunochemistry, automated chemistry, hematology, and coagulation. Kaiser’s Richmond campus currently houses a training facility for allied health sciences and an optical lab.

Logan College of Chiropractic has opened a $4-million research and learning center in Chesterfield, Mo. Housing a distance learning facility, a computer lab with 75 Internet-equipped workstations, a library, and a collection of human skeletons and skulls, the center will accommodate anatomy and human science studies for students, teachers, and area chiropractors.

Seton Healthcare Network broke ground in early June 2004 on a 451,000-sf children’s hospital on the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport in Austin, Texas. The $175-million, 169-bed hospital, called the Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, is slated for completion in 2007. The facility will include a 34-bed emergency department.

St. Joseph Hospital, an affiliate of Catholic Health System, broke ground on June 4, 2004 on an $11-million emergency department in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Slated for completion in 2005, the 15,000-sf department will be paperless, with all records, tests, and results transmitted electronically. Tripling the size of the current emergency department, the new ED will be able to treat over 40,000 patients annually.

Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas is planning a $10 million expansion of its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Slated to begin construction in summer 2004 and reach completion in fall 2005, the project will quadruple the existing unit’s size from 5,000-sf to 20,000-sf.

Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas opened its expanded 51,000-sf surgery center in May of 2004. Featuring new surgical suites, ten new post-anesthesia recovery beds, 37 additional preoperation recovery rooms, and six preadmission testing rooms, the facility represents a 38 percent increase in day surgery capacity from 20,218 to approximately 28,000 annually. The surgery center is the final phase of a $51.8 million-expansion and renovation of Seton Medical Center which includes a larger emergency department, renovation of patient rooms, a new façade, chapel, and parking garage.

The University of California, San Francisco will invest over $500 million on capital projects at its Parnassus campus over the next five years. Planned new construction or renovations include:

Southern Indiana Rehab Hospital began a $1.1-million renovation of its New Albany, Ind., facility in May 2004. The addition to the 10-year-old, 60-bed inpatient facility will include space for pediatric therapy, outpatient therapy, psychology testing and offices, formal meeting rooms, staff offices, private treatment rooms, and a new waiting area. The project team is comprised of architectural firm Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan, Inc. and general contractor Brasch Barry.

Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland began construction in May on the $6-million Center for Immunobiology and Vaccine Development. Housed in a reconfigured portion of the existing research center, the 9,900-sf facility will bring together different immunobiology and infectious disease research programs and develop vaccines to prevent them. Slated for completion in December, the new center will house several interactive laboratories, specialized, shared facilities including a BSL-3 facility, and office space. Completion is expected in December 2004. 

Texas NeuroRehab Center broke ground in May 2004 on a $6.5-million project that will expand its long-term acute care unit from 31 beds to 47. The Austin center specializes in the treatment of traumatic brain injury, neurological illness, pulmonary disease, orthopedic, and other complex conditions. The project team on the 9,200-sf expansion includes LZT Architects of Austin and American Constructors. A therapeutic indoor pool may also be constructed at the center.