By Kibbe, Cindy
New Hampshire’s health-care facilities are growing at a record pace. From Elliot Hospital’s $95 million redevelopment of the former Jac Par site in Manchester and a brand new Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro, to the multimillion-dollar projects at New London Hospital in the lake Sunapee area to Portsmouth Regional Hospital on the Seacoast, projects are sprouting all across the Granite State. Here’s a look at how they shape up:
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Frisbie Memorial Hospital, Rochester
Project: Expansion/Renovation
Estimated Cost: $42 million
Estimated Completion: December 2008
Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester has just passed a major milestone on its 26-month-long, $42 million expansion/renovation project. In July, the hospital opened the doors to 88,000 square feet of new construction.
Situated within four floors, patients and visitors will find a new lobby and registration area, new endoscopy suite as well as a new 20-bed coronary care unit and a new 20-bed women and children’s unit.
“The hospital hadn’t had a major renovation in 25 years,” said Joseph Shields, vice president of planning. “In that time, there has been a change in emphasis from inpatient services to outpatient services.”
One of the important points of the project was to locate more of the outpatient services closer to the entrance
“Prior to the expansion, the hospital was really constructed for inpatients,” said Shields.
Workers are now focusing on the last stages of the project, joining the new building to the old as part of the 25,000-square- foot renovation.
“Prior to the start of the project, about 35 percent of our inpatient beds were private. When we’re done, we’ll be about 85 percent private,” said Shields.
Infection control and other standards have prompted many hospitals to convert their semi-private rooms to private.
The updated beds also will increase Frisbie’s bed count from 74 to 87 when the project is complete – expected in December.
Financing for the project will be partially covered by a $1.5 million, 18-month capital campaign.
“We started in November and have raised $1.2 million already,” said Bill Parkinson, executive director of fund development. “We expect to go over that ($1.5 million) goal.”
Project principals include Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott of Boston, architects; R.W. Sullivan of Boston, engineering and William A. Berry & Son Inc. of Danvers, Mass., construction manager.
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Huggins Hospital, Wolfeboro
Project: Expansion/Renovation
Estimated Cost: $52 million
Estimated Completion: November 2010
One of the most ambitious hospital projects in New Hampshire Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro is doing more than just renovating and expanding – it is essentially building an entirely new facility.
Many parts of the existing hospital had been built decades ago during a “different era of medicine,” said David Tower, president of Huggins. “Back then, inpatient stays were much longer. Today, more care is done in an outpatient setting.”
Although Huggins is licensed for 55 beds, it will remain a critical-care access hospital meeting the requirement for 25 licensed acute care beds. The other 30 beds are licensed for observation, obstetrics and skilled nursing. However, sections of the new 101,000-square-foot facility could easily be expanded for future needs and growth.
The new hospital will move inpatient rooms – to be all private instead of the current semi-private configuration – to the second floor, away from the outpatient and registration “hubbub,” said Tower. A new women’s health and obstetrics unit, intensive care unit and expanded emergency room and outpatient service areas are also planned.
With aesthetics an important part of today’s nurturing aspect of healing the new facility also will feature gardens for reflection and a greater use of natural light through the placement of windows, skylights, a central atrium and clerestory windows.
Tower said that reducing the hospital’s environmental footprint was a priority as well. “There are things that we can and should do such as water conservation and efficient utilities,” he said.
Financing for the $52 million price tag will come largely from the hospital itself with a capital campaign currently being designed. Other financing could come in the form of bonds.
With groundbreaking in July, the new facility is expected to admit its first patients in November 2010, with site work and parking completed in spring of 2011.
Project principals include DiGiorgio Associates Inc of Boston, architects and engineering and Gilbane Inc. of Manchester, construction managers.
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Catholic Medical Center, Manchester
Project: First Noor and Fourth Floor renovations
Estimated Cost: $5.7 million
Estimated Completion: April 2009
After several years of renovations and expansions, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester is embarking on two other projects.
Renovations to the first floor will include a new endoscopy suite, an expanded cardiac catheterization lab, a new space for the medical laboratory and a new chapel.
These spaces will be housed in the same rooms previously occupied by operating rooms. Ten new surgical suites opened last October on the fourth floor.
Also on the fourth floor will be renovated medical/surgical inpatient rooms.
“That project is less than $200,000, and just requires some minor equipment changes,” said Gail Winslow-Pine, marketing director for the 330-bed hospital.
Project principals include Dignard Architectural Services of New Boston, architect and Harvey Construction of Bedford, construction managers.
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Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, Nashua
Projects: Medical office building, Merrimack; Expansion/ Renovation of medical center, Nashua
Estimated Cost: $2.2 million (medical office); $35 million (medical center expansion)
Estimated Completion: Medical office building, early 2009; Medical Center project, Summer 2009
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center has not one, but two major capital improvement projects under way – a new medical office building and the second phase of an expansion/renovation project at the medical center itself.
Construction teams have begun working on the high-profile conversion of the former Newick’s restaurant in Merrimack to a medical office building.
Turning a seafood restaurant into a physician’s office is not as challenging as some other projects, said Scott Cote, vice president of facilities for the Nashua-based for-profit hospital.
“The 14,000-square-foot building sits on one floor, and the way it was constructed has an open floor plan,” said Cote. “The openness will make a nice entrance to the building.”
The building sits on five acres, and will become home to seven physicians – four family practitioners, two pediatric practitioners and an OB/GYN practice.
In addition to the physicians, ambulatory care services – such as a laboratory, radiology and physical therapy – will be a part of the new facility.
Project principals for the medical office include Dennis B. Mires P.A., The Architects, Manchester; site engineer Hayner/Swanson Inc., Nashua; and construction manager Fulcrum Associates, Amherst.
The construction going on at the medical center itself is the second phase of a large expansion/renovation project.
The first phase entailed the creation of a new emergency room and surgery unit, and was completed in 2006.
The second phase will involve the creation of a new labor, delivery and recovery unit reflecting today’s standards for caring for new mothers during the entire stay in the same room.
The biggest challenge, said Cote, to the project is the confined site on which the medical renter is located.
“We are in an urban area, with businesses and some residential properties boarding us,” he said.
Making construction at the 188-bed hospital more complicated is that several non-clinical departments had to be moved off-campus to other locations in Nashua. A few will remain off-campus after the project is complete in summer of 2009, giving more space over to patient care areas.
Lavallee/Brensinger of Manchester is the architect for this project with construction managers Engelberth Construction Inc. of Keene, N.H., and Colchester, Vt., and site engineers Hayner-Swanson of Nashua.
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Concord Hospital, Concord
Project: Langley Parkway
Estimated Cost: $2 million
Completion: Opened June 25, 2008
It is said that good things come to those who wait. As far as Concord Hospital is concerned, its patients and the surrounding community had waited long enough.
Langley Parkway, a controversial road extension between Pleasant and Clinton Streets in Concord, with parts running adjacent to the hospital, had been discussed by city planners as far back as 1956.
The parkway which finally opened in June, allows drivers from Interstate 89 to reach the hospital without driving east on Clinton Street to South Fruit Street. Opponents had argued that sensitive wetlands and open space that the road would cut through needed to be preserved. They also questioned whether the bypass would mitigate the city’s traffic problems.
Concord Hospital, along with nearby St. Paul’s School, partnered to help the $6 million, 4,300-foot parkway become a reality. Concord’s tab for the construction was $2 million.
A new road is just one of the projects the 295-bed Concord Hospital has embarked on.
Well along on its $60 million North and East Wing expansions, the projects entail some 160,000 square feet of new construction with 25,000 square feet of renovations, which include an expanded emergency room, intensive care unit, progressive care unit for patients recovering from cardiac surgery, and new operating suites. Also part of the project is an expanded visitor’s entrance and cafeteria.
The current renovation phase is expected to be completed at the end of year.
The hospital also is planning a $1.75 million renovation of its pediatric unit.
And the hospital is planning on a permanent home for its high- tech simulation lab, which provides a sophisticated training environment for physicians and nurses on a variety of procedures.
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Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Portsmouth
Project: Expansion/Renovation
Estimated Cost: $83 million
Estimated Completion: 2012
Portsmouth Regional Hospital has just begun the initial phase of its $63 million renovation and expansion project.
A total of 156,000 square feet will be built – 88,000 square feet of renovation and 68,000 square feet of new construction.
One of the first phases of the project will be to build an entirely new third floor with 40 more private hospital rooms. Not only will this allow continued use of the facility, the move will add 19 additional medical/surgical beds, raising the hospital’s bed count to 224.
Seacoast area mothers-to-be will find a new maternity unit when the construction is completed.
The hospital will be reconfiguring space to create 20 more rooms in the cardiac unit as well as moving the cardiac operating room near with the intensive care unit, cardiac catheter laboratory and the cardiovascular ICU to create a continuous, cohesive space.
To make it easier for patients and visitors alike to find their way around the hospital, the three entrances it currently has will be reconfigured to just a single entrance which will open into a new lobby with a two-story atrium.
The new lobby’s design will also feature display cases with artifacts reflecting the Seacoast’s nautical and maritime heritage.
Ground-breaking is scheduled for September.
JSA Architects of Portsmouth is the architect for the project.
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Valley Regional Hospital, Claremont
Project: Expansion/Renovation
Estimated Cost: $22.5 million
Estimated Completion: Summer 2010
Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont held a groundbreaking in July to celebrate the beginning of construction of its $22.5 million renovation project.
The two-year project will include 54,000 square feet of new construction and renovation. This is the hospital’s largest renovation project in history, reported the Claremont Eagle Times.
The project calls for a new entranceway and the emergency department will be moved to a lower floor.
The 25-bed critical access hospital, a member of the Dartmouth- Hitchcock Alliance of hospitals, will convert its inpatient rooms to a private configuration. There also will be designated family areas with refrigerators throughout the hospital for families visiting loved ones, the Eagle Times said.
The central plant, which houses the hospital’s boiler room, will be moved to the rear of the building, and the helipad will be moved closer to the emergency room entrance. Administration offices will be torn down and moved to the east side of the hospital, and significant changes are also planned for the same-day surgery unit.
Project principals are Lavallee/Brensinger Architects, Manchester and construction manages Harvey Construction, Bedford.
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Elliot Health System, Mancaster
Project: Elliot at Rivers Edge
Estimated Cost: Ambulatory Care Center, $95 million
Estimated Completion: Summer 2010
Elliot Hospital in Manchester is planning the state’s largest health-care project – Elliot at River’s Edge. The massive $95 million project includes a 236,000-square-foot ambulatory care center and a medical office building as well as an apartment building and a retail complex.
“When we created a new master plan about 2-1/2 years ago, we needed to address the access of the delivery of care. The parking at the [hospital] campus was becoming congested, more patients were seeking outpatient services and we needed to address the growing inpatient population,” said Doug Dean, CEO of Elliot Health Services.
Expansion of the Manchester hospital campus was first studied, but found to he inadequate, said CEO Rick Elwell.
“We looked at available property a quarter-mile and a half-mile out, but found negotiations with neighbors would be too costly and time-consuming.”
When the former Jac Par site along the Merrimack River in Manchester became available, Elliot found the property “perfect” for its needs, said Dean.
Most outpatient services currently housed on the 296-bed hospital campus – such as urgent care, physical rehabilitation and ambulatory surgery – will be moved to River’s Edge when it opens. Those spaces will be filled with possible additional operating room suites and more private inpatient rooms.
The residential and retail projects are a little less developed, said Elwell, but will probably have shorter construction times. Also, those projects may or may not be owned by Elliot, he added.
The ambulatory care project is also expected to bring in between 200 to 300 jobs. Some positions will betaken by existing employees as they relocate from the main campus to the new site.
Groundbreaking for the ambulatory care building is expected to take place this fall with construction anticipated to be finished summer of 2010. It will be owned by Elliot, with financing through a combination of tax credits, fund-raising and other vehicles.
Project principals include developer Anagnost Companies, Manchester and architect Cube 3 Studio of Lawrence, Mass.
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Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital/Harvest Hill, Lebanon
Project: The Woodlands at Harvest Hill
Estimated Cost: $28 million
Estimated Completion: Spring 2010
Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital’s independent and assisted living community Harvest Hill in Lebanon is nearing ground-breaking for its new $26 million community – The Woodlands at Harvest Hill.
The project consists of 66 apartments, ranging in size from 790 square feet to nearly 2,200 square feet, with prices ranging from $260,000 to $622,000.
The four-story facility will include such amenities as weekly housekeeping services, a theater room, a salon, a daily meal and a swimming pool. Some apartments will even have terrace views.
Independent living retirement communities have become a popular choice for seniors who wish to remain independent but have the safety and security of home care when necessary.
Three years in the planning, when the final approvals were made in December 2007, it proved to be a popular one.
“We’ve already sold more than half of the apartments,” said Ron Andrews, adnministrator of Harvest Hill.
The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 20, with an estimated completion date of spring 2010.
The Woodlands was designed by UK Architects of Hanover. Construction management is being provided by Trumbull-Nelson of Hanover.
When the situation calls for a higher level of care, she said, residents can transition easily to Alice Peck Day’s Elizabeth S. Hughes Care Unit at Harvest Hill, which also is undergoing renovations.
Five apartments will be reconfigured into seven private rooms with baths. Two nurses will be dedicated to the unit 24 hours a day.
Project costs for the unit renovations are estimated at under $1 million. Much of it has been financed by donations, including at $500,000 donation by Jim Hughes in memory of his wife Elizabeth.
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New London Hospital, New London
ProjeW: New medical office building; Expansion/Renovation
Estimated Cost: $21 million
Estimated Completion: Phase I – November 2008; full project May 2009
New London Hospital is nearing completion of the first phase of an expansion/renovation project encompassing some 60,000 square feet.
This first portion of the project consists of 46,000 square feet of new construction and is expected to be complete in November. Renovation of some 14,000 square feet of existing space will take place in the following months, with a project completion date of May 2009.
Bruce King, president of the hospital, said the project has four main goals: converting semi-private inpatient rooms to private rooms; tearing down an adjacent free-standing medical office building and constructing a new, attached medical office facility; expanding areas for specialty services; and reuniting departments currently located in leased spaces back to the campus.
A new chapel, an interior connection for a mobile MRI unit, a new patient entrance, and additional parking will also be added.
Despite one of the worst winters on record and hitting granite ledge, King credits the project’s construction team, especially Engelberth Construction of Keene, N.H., and Colchester, Vt., for keeping the project on budget and on track.
Other principals on the project include architect Lavallee/ Brensinger, Manchester, and engineers Clough, Harbour & Associates, Keene.
The $21 million project is being financed through a $15 million bond from the New Hampshire Health & Educational Facilities Authority, and a $7.2 million capital campaign, through which $6.3 million has been raised to date.
Copyright Business Publications Inc. Aug 1, 2008
(c) 2008 New Hampshire Business Review. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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