Construction on the highest point of the new Middle Tennessee Medical Center will be completed this week, according to hospital officials.
“Now people are beginning to visualize what the hospital is going to look like and the magnitude of the building,” said Gordon Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of MTMC.
Construction on the 560,000-square-foot replacement facility began in April. The steel framing of the massive building is expected to be complete by the end of December.
MTMC and Turner Universal, the construction company, are holding a ceremony Monday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. on the construction site to celebrate the “topping off” of the seventh floor.
The new hospital is 128 feet, 8 inches tall at its highest point.
“The topping out of the project marks a major milestone in the progress,” Ferguson said.
The exterior of the hospital is expected to be complete by the end of 2009. The estimated completion date for the project is August 2010 with a November 2010 occupancy date.
“The biggest news is that we are on schedule,” said Jennifer Garland, MTMC project director for the new hospital.
Currently, ductwork and interior walls of patient rooms are being installed on the fifth floor of the new building. Work is beginning on framing the exterior skin of the building.
The foundation is 100 percent complete.
Workers will begin putting masonry on the building in October.
As work progresses on the hospital, Turner Universal keeps adding to its crew, said Andy Davis, senior project manager, Turner Universal. Two weeks ago, 100 workers were on the project. Now there are 175 workers on site.
By the end of the year there will be 250, he said.
Ferguson said planning has already begun to prepare for the move into the new facility two years from now.
Garland anticipated the move could take two to three weeks.
Additionally, hospital staff is working to inventory items from the existing hospital and decide what needs to be moved and what new equipment is required.
“We will have a lot of new imaging equipment” in the new hospital, Ferguson said. “We are still in the process of finalizing that list. Obviously, we will have new furniture in the patient rooms and a lot of new equipment in the surgical suite.”
The modern yet traditional design of the new MTMC features a glass stair tower that will be lit at night, serving as a beacon to the hospital. The heart of the hospital will be its chapel; the hospital also will feature gardens, outdoor seating and education areas and larger patient rooms.
MTMC is a member of Saint Thomas Health Services, a faith-based ministry with more than 7,200 associates in Middle Tennessee. Saint Thomas is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic non-profit health organization.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
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