Healthcare

Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI) has relocated its national call center, credit, billing, accounts receivable and third-party payer operations to the 58,000-sf KCI Advantage Center at the University Park Tech Center IV in San Antonio. The health care products maker previously housed these operations in 28,000 sf adjacent to the KCI Tower across the street. KCI's 290 employees were relocated in early March to the new facility, which was dedicated on April 5.

Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center has selected RDK Engineers of Andover and Boston to expand and renovate its Brockton hospital. The $10-million, 50,945-sf project will include a two-story, 8,720-sf addition in front of the hospital and extensive renovations to ground and first floor levels of the existing hospital. Completion is anticipated in June 2003.

The National Center for Children's Rehabilitation, created in partnership by the Children's National Medical Center and the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH), is scheduled to open July 1 in Washington. The top floor of NRH's three-story northwest D.C. facility will be renovated to create 15,000- to 25,000-sf of space housing an initial 10 beds to care for patients age 12 to 18.

As part of its master alliance program with Kaiser Permanente, McCarthy is beginning tenant build-out for a $10-million medical office building in Folsom, Calif. Designed by architect Gordon H. Chong & Partners of Sacramento, the three-story, 116,000-sf structure will contain adult primary care, OB/GYN, optical, pharmacy, radiology, pediatric, and medical records areas, as well as exam room space. Adhering to a tight nine-month schedule, McCarthy is performing the TI work concurrent with the building's construction.

South Texas Medical Center has planned $136 million in capital projects for the current year, with projects totalling $165 million planned for the next five years. Ground was broken on the Children's Cancer Research Center, a $50-million facility providing space for up to 18 principal researchers and their staff. The Children's Cancer Center is part of a $67-million development at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, which will also include an academic administration and student services facility.

Rex Hospital of Raleigh has initiated a $20-million remodeling and construction project that will add two new outpatient operating rooms, a new admission and registration entryway, and a new four-level parking deck providing an additional 410 spaces for visitors. The project is slated for completion in two years.

Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente Health Plan is planning to spend $375 million on a new 1.2 million-sf hospital and 870,000-sf medical office building in Santa Clara, doubling Kaiser's current Santa Clara facilities.  A new $7-million emergency department will be added to Kaiser's Santa Teresa Hospital in South San Jose, more than tripling its existing 5,000-sf emergency facilities. A hospital in Redwood City is still in the planning stage.

An expansion of the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center will create a new $160-million "City of Medicine Center". The mixed-use campus will include research labs, private-sector medical office buildings, educational-administrative offices, residential facilities and retail space. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is joining national real estate firm LCOR of Pennsylvania in developing the City of Medicine Center, which is slated to begin construction in four to six months.

The Children's Hospital of Denver has selected Houston-based FKP Architects, Inc. to lead the architectural team for its new hospital at the Fitzsimons campus. As architect of record, FKP will oversee all planning of medical space, working with Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership (ZGF) of Portland as principal designer. Denver's H+L Architecture will handle construction documentation and contract administration. Children's main hospital currently operates out of eight adjacent buildings on its main campus in Denver.

Burlington County's Virtua Memorial Hospital has completed its new $19.6-million expansion and renovation project initiated in December of 1999. The 45,000-sf addition provides space for new operating rooms including a 26-bed critical-care unit and a cardiac-catheterization suite. Oversized operating rooms have the capacity to support advanced neurosurgical and orthopedic equipment. In the existing hospital building, 15,000 sf of space was renovated to expand the lobby and house a conference center, cafe, and gift shop.

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif., has selected architects Ratcliff of Emeryville, Calif., to design a new emergency department. The 32,000-sf facility will feature 52 private-visit rooms and will accommodate 73,000 patient visits per year. Slated to open in September 2003, the new emergency department will be 2.5 times the size of Kaiser's existing Walnut Creek emergency facilities.

Jordan Hospital has selected Newton-based TRO, The Ritchie Organization, as architect for the Plymouth hospital's ten-year expansion project. Construction management will be provided by the Needham office of Gilbane Building Co., with Brookline-based Dunster Associates as project manager. The cancer center, the emergency department and outpatient services will be expanded.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit health care philanthropy, is building a 96,000-sf office and public affairs center in Washington.

Children's Medical Center of Dallas selected McCarthy to build a $17.8 million, 2,500-car parking garage at Dallas Market Center. Ground was recently broken on the design-build structure which will provide much needed space for employee and visitor parking. The project, designed by architect Carl Walker, Inc., is part of a long-term growth initiative to increase services and capacity at the hospital's main location.

Kaiser Permanente is leasing a new $12-million facility in Daly City slated for occupancy in the fourth quarter of 2002. Designed by MBH Architects of Alameda, the 120,000-sf medical building will house additional space for women's services, adult medicine, and the entire ophthalmology department. Developed by Dewey Land Co. of San Mateo, Calif., and CKAM of Palo Alto, Calif., the facility is being built by general contractor South Bay Construction.