Running Out of Rooms

A $110-million expansion of the Modesto Medical Center will add 112 badly needed beds and 18 operating rooms. The project is expected to be finished in January 2007.

By J.T. Long

Twenty miles south of Stockton, Modesto is also feeling the heat from Bay Area residents looking for elbow room.

Skanska USA is building a seven-story addition to the Modesto Medical Center. The project was designed by Chong Partners Architecture (photo by J.T. Long).

The city of 201,364 is growing at a rate of more than 3 percent a year, according to the California Department of Finance.

More residents mean more patients at Modesto Medical Center. Moreover, there are times when "no beds are available," said Anita Talkington, vice president of public relations for MMC's owner, Memorial Hospitals Association, an affiliate of Sutter Health.

To make room, MMC is adding a seven-story, $110-million, precast-shell building designed by San Francisco-based Chong Partners Architecture. It will include 18 operating rooms for cardiology, neurology and cystology, as well as 112 beds.

It is the first in a series of projects to upgrade the facility by 2030. Work began in October 2004 and is expected to be completed in January 2007. Parsippany, N.J.-based Skanska USA Building Inc. is the general contractor.

Working Around Patients

The seven-story, 372,347-sq.-ft. surgical center connects to the existing facility in four locations, and a wing of offices had to be demolished without disturbing operations.

"This is not a green field," Kelly Smith, Skanska's project executive, said about the level of construction noise and activity at the occupied hospital.

Added Mike Doran, Skanska's senior project manager, "We want to be the quiet achievers."

advertisement

The facility has one entrance and exit that has to be maintained for staff, patients and visitors while construction crews move between the site and staging area. Because of the essential function of the building, electricity and water could not be shut off at any time and a food service area being demolished and rebuilt had to be replaced with a temporary facility during construction.

"The key is pre-planning, " Smith said.

Skanska construction workers spent nine months in preparation-clearing old buildings, starting the basement, renovating the dietary center and bringing in materials-to prepare for vertical progress.

The construction crew at the Modesto Medical Center project site includes, from left, Mike Doran, senior project manager for Skanska; Bruce Russo, project manager for CMC Builders; and Kelly Smith, project executive for Skanska (photo by J.T. Long).

"Four phases of construction were required to be complete prior to steel erection on the [new] North Tower," Smith said.

The Memorial Hospitals Association team took a risk and pre-purchased the more than 3,000 tons of steel required for the project prior to receiving state approval-a process that took two years -in order to secure prices that were escalating quickly.

"We saved a significant amount of money," Smith said.

Purchasing equipment was a challenge because Memorial's administrators didn't want to decide on equipment so far in advance that it would be obsolete by the time the facility opens. The type and placement had to be chosen early enough, however, that utility feeds could be embedded in the foundation.

"It was a very delicate situation," said Eugene Maurice of Modesto-based CMC Builders, the project manager.

Once the tower and its two floors of surgery center are complete, Memorial will renovate the old tower to convert it to private rooms.

Stockton/Modesto Market Report:

A Grand Idea Evolves in Tracy>>
Bay Area's Loss Is Stockton's Gain>>
Running Out of Rooms>>