MID CITY — A major piece of Saint John's Healthcare Center history will soon be reduced to rubble now that its main building is being dismantled.
The main wing, erected 60 years ago, was closed for demolition Feb. 10. It will be replaced with the Howard Keck Diagnostic Treatment Center, scheduled to begin construction in four months.
“The main wing is completely vacant,” said Terry A. Muldoon, Saint John’s vice president of engineering services. “We are removing the hazardous materials right now, severing the utilities.”
Patients at Saint John’s main wing were recently moved to its newest and largest building, called the north pavillion. The hospital is in the process of nearly two decades of redevelopment as a result of damage sustained in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The north pavilion, which opened Dec. 4, is a four-story facility that has 182 beds. It stands 85 feet tall and 600 feet long. It's curved and faces 23rd Street off of Santa Monica Boulevard. Patients moved to the building are being treated in the critical care, orthopedic and women’s health units. Muldoon said each floor of the main wing will be removed from the “top down,” once materials such as asbestos are removed, which was part of the original construction.
“The hard demolition will be in five weeks,” he said. Saint John’s plans to spend $314 million on its improved facilities. The project is funded completely separate from the hospital’s operating budget and comes from FEMA money and a capital fundraising campaign, Muldoon said.
The Howard Keck Diagnostic Treatment Center will begin construction in June and will serve the technical business of health care, Muldoon said.
Rebuilding hospital facilities is done in phases and will require hundreds of individual moves upon completion. Phase one of the project, which includes construction of the diagnostic center, is expected to be complete in January of 2009.
Muldoon said the second phase of the project, still in the planning phase, has not yet been submitted to the Santa Monica City Council.
“We hope to start the second phase in 2010, and be done in 2015,” he said. “It will involve the development of property adjacent to the hospital, which we hope to use for medically-related services, such as an assisted living building, professional offices, and a wellness center.”
The north pavillion is completely base isolated, which allows the building to be able to withstand massive force — much more than the Northridge Earthquake. Saint John’s was closed for nine months after the 1994 earthquake and as a result, hospital officials have taken extra precautions to ensure it’s self-sufficient in case another quake hits.
During the first few days after the quake, Saint John’s didn’t have water for domestic use.
“We were out of business for nine months, we learned a lot,” Muldoon said. “You have to have your own infrastructure.”
There are 175,000 gallons of water stored underneath the north pavillion building, as well as 185,000 gallons of sanitary sewer water, 40,000 gallons of fuel and a third of the hospital’s power is generated on site.
“If there was any type of event, we are now self-sufficient,” Muldoon said.
Muldoon said the ongoing project will continue to produce some noise and traffic impacts.
“There is always some impact with a project like this,” Muldoon said. “To take down main wing, for example, we’ll have to bring in trucks to haul off the rubble. But we have worked hard to keep the surrounding community up to speed.
“Also, Santa Monica has guidelines we must follow to make sure we minimize the impact,” he added.
Construction work will take place between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekends. There will be no construction traffic or noise on Sundays.
Saint John’s also will be planting street trees on 23rd Street along the north pavilion’s side, to help beautify the surrounding area.
Call the construction hotline at (310) 264-1013 with questions related to the project.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 26, 2005. Read the original PDF.