Kaiser Starts 1M-SF Hospital Project

The new facility is adjacent to the Kaiser Permanente Imperial Medical Office Building on a 30-acre site at the northwest corner of Imperial Highway and Bellflower Boulevard. It will replace the hospital portion of the existing Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, notes Jerry McCall, SVP for Kaiser Permanente.

McCarthy's contract includes preservation and demolition of the existing structures on the site before construction of a new 657,047-sf hospital, a 117,060-sf medical office building, a second medical office building encompassing 178,431 sf, and a 50,000-sf central plant. The firm will also build a 650-space parking structure. Designed by HMC Architects of Ontario, the 117,060-sf medical office building is scheduled for completion in late 2005, and the hospital, parking structure and second medical office building are all scheduled for completion in winter 2008, according to Jake Jones, McCarthy project manager. He notes that the project will require more than 8,000 tons of structural steel and 30 miles of concrete piles that are each about 60 feet in length. the 352-bed, full-service hospital will include inpatient and outpatient services and will house 82 departments as well as an 85-room emergency department.

The Kaiser Permanente project is part of $1.3 billion in health care facilities throughout Southern California for which McCarthy is currently providing construction or preconstruction services. Along with Jones, SVP Steven Mynsberge and Joel Nasers, preconstruction director, are McCarthy team leaders for the Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center projects.