Kaiser Permanente Tops Out New Oakland Medical Center

OAKLAND, Calif. — The final beam in the steel superstructure of the new Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center was put in place July 5 during a traditional topping-out ceremony.

Kaiser Permanente leaders and employees, the project’s general contractor McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., and Oakland city and neighborhood leaders commemorated the milestone by signing the last 1,200-pound steel beam, which was then hoisted and secured in place.

The 12-story, 349-bed hospital is scheduled to open in 2014, and will replace the existing hospital across MacArthur Boulevard. The construction is part of the state-mandated earthquake safety retrofit of all California hospitals. NBBJ serves as the project’s architect.

“We are thrilled to be an integral part in fulfilling Kaiser Permanente’s vision to expand its offering of exceptional medical facilities in California,” said Rich Henry, president of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.’s Northern Pacific Division.  “As the general contractor, we’ve streamlined project delivery with a special emphasis on utilizing innovative technologies throughout the design and construction phases.  It was exciting to come together with Kaiser Permanente and the local community leaders to place the final beam on Kaiser’s new “flagship” hospital facility here in Oakland.”

The first of three phases of the project was completed in May 2009 with the opening of the Broadway Medical Office Building and Cancer Center and an adjacent parking garage. The second phase of the project includes the new hospital and a Specialty Medical Office Building, which will house 99 medical provider offices, six outpatient operating rooms and seven outpatient procedure rooms.

“The ‘topping out’ was an exciting milestone in the construction of Kaiser Permanente’s new, state-of-the-art Medical Center here in Oakland,” said Dr. John Loftus, physician in chief at Oakland Medical Center. “The physicians and staff believe this new facility will provide superior technology for the complex tertiary adult and pediatric services that we provide for the Oakland community and patients referred to Oakland from throughout Northern California.”

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.7 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to www.kp.org/newscenter.

About McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
McCarthy Building Companies is the nation’s 10th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2011), and the second largest general contractor in California (California Construction, April 2010). With more than 145 years of experience, McCarthy is the largest American-based healthcare builder in the country.  Committed to the construction of high performance buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for healthcare, educational, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and bridges and highways.  In addition to Sacramento and San Francisco, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.