A Healthy Prescription
Growth Drives Nevada Healthcare Construction
By Tony Illia

Seniors now represent 11 percent of Las Vegas' total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the boom in migration of people aged 65 years and older has resulted in a growing need for health care and medical services.

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To keep up with the demand, San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West, which operates two St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in southern Nevada, is building a third facility in southwest Las Vegas.

The $141 million San Martin campus is on 30 acres at Warm Springs Road and Durango Drive, adjacent to the Interstate -215 Beltway. Phoenix-based Kitchell Contractors is the general contractor under an $81 million guaranteed maximum price contract.

"Those of us involved in health care have been challenged to grow right along with the community," said Rod A. Davis, market president and CEO of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. "Southern Nevada is faced with a shortage of nurses and hospital beds due to the area's phenomenal growth, and our goal is to proactively respond with our eyes to the future."

The new four-story San Martin facility is scheduled to open in May 2006 with 141 patient beds. The 46,857-sq-ft. top floor will accommodate an additional 60 beds at a later date. Hospital officials are anticipating build-out within six years of operation.

But the city's rapid growth may change that. Las Vegas is currently attracting more than 6,000 new residents a month.

"According to our projections, over 700,000 people will live within a 10-mi. radius of the new hospital by 2010," said Vicky VanMeetren, president of the San Martin campus. "We plan on starting with 200 employees and eventually growing to 800 people upon build-out."

Designed by HKS Inc. of Dallas, the Y-shaped hospital symbolically represents the healing arms of faith. The entrance is meant as a warm embrace to those who are injured or in need of medical attention.

The steel-framed EIFS-clad structure features an unusual amount of glazing for a hospital.

"In order to create a healing environment, we introduced daylight into the patient rooms and common areas," said Gerry Hicks, HKS' vice president of health-care design. "You don't feel like you have come into an institutional space."

A curved glass atrium tower serves as the building's central design element and main entrance. Inside, there is a grand rotunda for patient and visitor check-in. The building is flanked by two similar glass towers at each end, housing stairwells. The composition has a soothing and balanced symmetry.

The Southwest architecture is evident from the building's mansard cornices and mission-style turrets as well as its terrazzo stone accents and clay-roof tiles. The San Martin Campus will resemble St. Rose Dominican's Rose de Lima and Siena campuses in Henderson.

But the San Martin campus will also have a lower-level "healing garden."

Consisting of a lushly landscaped space with planters, benches and walkways, the garden is meant as a convalescent refuge for patients and visitors. The 80 -ft.- diameter quiet area will have trees and bushes as well as concrete features and a trellis.

The San Martin campus will offer a full range of services, including surgery, obstetrical, pediatric and emergency. It will have diagnostic imaging equipment, with MRI and CAT machines, plus cardiac and cancer services.

The hospital's total equipment budget is $36 million, of which $9 million is being earmarked for radiology.

A separate four-story, 100,000-sq.-ft. medical office building, located directly north of the hospital, and developed by Rendina Cos. of West Palm Beach, Fla., is being planned. A contractor or project amount has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, San Martin's construction has entailed its share of challenges.

With a sloped site and hard soil conditions, the job required some difficult excavation and 150,000 cu. yards worth of imported material, said Michael Wolfe, Kitchell's project manager. VT Construction of Las Vegas, is the earthwork contractor.

In addition, a natural flood wash runs diagonally across the hospital site, which required a $75,000 lift station and a 150-ft.-long retaining wall behind the hospital.

The 346,625-sq.-ft. building rests atop a spread footing and slab foundation with concrete over steel-decking floors. The structure will require a total of 2,100 tons of structural steel, and 9,000 cu. yards of concrete to complete.
Bomel Construction Co. Inc. of Anaheim, Calif., is the concrete contractor, and Schuff Steel Co. of Phoenix, is the steel erector. The hospital will be serviced by a 13,000-sq.-ft. detached central plant housing three chillers with a combined 950 tons of cooling capacity.

The building itself contains 157 mi.les of electrical conduit, 36 mi. of pipe, and 284 mi. of feeder wire. Helix Electric Inc. of, San Diego, is the electrical contractor, and Pahor Mechanical Contractors Inc. of Las Vegas, is doing the mechanical work.