Start 14: St. Marys Hospital Medical Center
Cost: $174 million

Work has begun on a 10-year plan of expansion for St. Marys Hospital in Madison.

Demolition is under way to make way for an 180,000-sq.-ft. inpatient building, which will include a new surgery suite and cardiovascular operating rooms and cardiovascular intensive care unit.

Gary Rothenbuehler, director of plant services for St. Marys, said The Boldt Co. of Appleton is the construction manager and Kahler Slater Architects of Milwaukee is the designer.

The new building will also house a 30-bed intermediate care unit, a mechanical equipment room, rooftop helipad and shelled floor for future development.

Although St. Marys owned most of the land it needed for the expansion, a few properties had to be acquired. Families and businesses were relocated and a street was re-routed to accommodate the expansion.

"One of the hardest things so far has been getting the city to OK reshaping of the street," he said. "It bowed one way and now it has to bow the other way to get the footprint of the building in there."

He said city approval and holding requisite neighborhood meetings to address the concerns of those living and working in the area took about two years.

"It probably took just as long to do all of that as it will take to build the building," he said.

Noise Addressed

The new building will sit beside the existing hospital, raising concern about noise and vibration during the construction process.

Addressing those has lead to the use of spread footings instead of a system of piles. Electric tower cranes will be used on the project, because they are quieter than combustion-powered cranes and produce no exhaust. Some air intakes on the existing structure have been covered and others moved to higher locations on the building, to help reduce intake of exhaust and dust.

"Infection control risk assessments and fire safety measures need to be put in place and constantly reviewed on a project like this," Rothenbuehler said.

A 1,300-car parking ramp is also part of the 10-year plan as is a four- or five-story outpatient surgery and digestive health system unit.

In addition, renovations and remodeling of existing hospital spaces will be performed on an ongoing basis as departments are moved to their new quarters, vacating existing spaces.

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