supposed to be done two years ago, but the general contractor went bankrupt, leaving hospital officials scrambling to find another one.
The building is the first phase of an extensive rebuilding plan. The replacement hospital is the only one on the westside with a state-of-the-art base isolation system that allows the facility to remain fully operational if another earthquake strikes, up to a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale.
The second phase of the construction plan — a four-story, 275,000-square-foot diagnostic and treatment facility — will be constructed where the original hospital now sits. It’s scheduled to be completed in 2009.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 1, 2005. Read the original PDF.