Hospital To Build $100-Mil Addition

MINNEAPOLIS-Abbott Northwestern Hospital has unveiled plans to build a $100-million, 388,000-sf heart hospital on its campus in the Phillips neighborhood. The Minneapolis-based hospital, which is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a non-profit network of hospitals, clinics and other health care services, has hired M.A. Mortenson as general contractor on the project.

Groundbreaking for the cardiac expansion will take place in October 2002 and construction is expected to be complete by early 2005.

Fund raising for the heart hospital will be done by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving cardiovascular health through clinical research and community education, in partnership with Abbott Northwestern Hospital. John G. Turner, vice chairman of ING America, has been named chairman of the heart hospital philanthropic campaign.

When completed, the 388,000-sf building will centralize the hospital’s 128 cardiac beds and allow space for future growth. The building is an expansion of the current Abbott Northwestern Hospital and will be located on the east side of the campus, along 10thAvenue and south of the Piper Building.

Abbott Northwestern officials say their decision to build a heart hospital reflects the hospital’s longstanding commitment to invest in its south Minneapolis campus. The heart hospital will serve as an economic development catalyst for the Phillips and surrounding neighborhoods, as more people are recruited from the neighborhood for health careers, according to hospital officials.

In 2000, Abbott Northwestern performed more than 135,000 cardiac procedures, more than twice as many as any other hospital in the Twin Cities, says Denny DeNarvaez, chief operating officer.

“This heart hospital, with its emphasis on a healing environment, is the future of cardiac care,” DeNarvaez says.