LOS ANGELES — CHA Health Systems Inc. has broken ground on a new patient care tower within CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC), a private hospital campus in Hollywood. The nearly 175,000-square-foot tower will replace an existing building at an estimated cost of $291 million.
The tower is part of HPMC’s three-phase, $350 million overhaul that includes retrofitting the existing Doctor’s Tower and South Wing to satisfy California’s seismic requirements.
The state passed a seismic retrofitting law in the wake of the 1994 Northridge earthquake that requires all acute care medical centers and hospitals to adhere to seismic-specific structural standards by 2030. The goal of the law is for all California hospitals to remain operational in the event of an earthquake, such as the 4.5-magnitude tremor that shook regions of Southern California early this morning.
KMD Architects designed the new tower to meet the state’s seismic requirements as well. Doctor’s Tower, South Wing and HPMC’s new parking deck are set to open this year.
The tower will double the hospital’s current emergency department with a 26,000-square-foot space that features 20 exam rooms and a private room for women’s services, as well as areas designated for chest pain observation and detox services.
The new addition will also include a new maternity and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), with 13 labor/delivery/recovery rooms, three surgical suites and 19 NICU beds, making it one of the largest birthing departments in Los Angeles.
“The modernized campus will provide the healing environment and accessible care that our patients deserve while furnishing our medical staff and other clinicians with the tools they need — including the DaVinci Robotic Surgical System — to deliver the highest quality medical care,” says Robert Allen, president and CEO of HPMC.
The tower will also include a new surgical unit with all-private rooms and a floor offering seven operating rooms, 20 pre-operative and recovery beds, a cardiac catheterization laboratory and an electrophysiology laboratory.
In the subterranean level of the tower, HPMC will house a new dietary department, as well as an IT room and mechanical room. The emergency and dietary departments are set for a 2020 occupancy.
CHA Health Systems is funding the overhaul and new tower with $300 million in financing from a federal government loan and other debt from financial institutions. The healthcare group selected Skanska USA as the general contractor for the new HPMC tower.
Billed as Hollywood’s first medical facility, HPMC opened its doors in 1924 and is today one of the top 10 employers in Hollywood with a workforce of more than 1,300 employees. HPMC staffs more than 500 physicians in 69 specialties representing over 75 different countries.
CHA Health Systems owns HPMC and five general hospitals in Korea, as well as fertility and research centers in both Korea and the United States.
— John Nelson