The completed project, a development of Loma Linda UniversityMedical Center, is an 85,000-square-foot off-campus medical plazathat consolidates four independent healthcare organizations andmore than dozen different healthcare services in two separatebuildings. The project that has reached a milestone is KaiserPermanente's Fontana Replacement Hospital, where officials recentlymarked its progress with a beam signing ceremony and expect thefinal steel beam to be raised into place within the next severalweeks.

The Loma Linda Medical Center project was developed by for theuniversity by Chicago-based Lillibridge. The new three-level,project is called Highland Springs Medical Plaza and was "fraughtwith extraordinary challenges" from a development standpoint,according to Lillibridge. The Chicago-based developer explainsthat, when executives of Loma Linda University Medical Centerdecided to build two new facilities about 15 miles away, theproject "marked the first significant foray beyond the university'smain campus." The new facilities would serve residents of Beaumontas well as the surrounding communities of Cherry Valley, Banning,Cabazon, Calimesa, Yucaipa and Oak Glen.

Lillibridge explains that the strategy was to better serveCalifornia's Inland Empire area, attracting new patients whilereducing the need for current patients to travel to the main campusin Loma Linda. The medical plaza,which had a projected price tag ofabout $42 million, was also a collaboration involving the medicalcenter, Faculty Practice Plan of Loma Linda University School ofMedicine, Redlands Community Hospital and Beaver Medical Group.That made it the Loma Linda Medical Center's first majorpartnership with other healthcare providers.