Hospital's concrete foundation poured
Work under way at Mishawaka site for new Saint Joseph Regional.
HEIDI PRESCOTT, Tribune Staff Writer
MISHAWAKA, March 2, 2007
-- A parade of Transit-Mix concrete trucks Wednesday crossed over some muddy terrain as crews began
forming the foundation for the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka.
Machines rumbled.
Conveyors hummed.
And lots and lots of concrete flowed.
Hospital President Nancy R. Hellyer stood by the fence line,
admitting to feeling exuberant and just a little bit nervous as she
followed a truck to Edison Lakes earlier that morning.
"I got kind of like, 'Woo -- it's really happening,'" Hellyer said.
"Now I think we're going to start to get impatient. But a lot will
be happening between now and the end of the year."
From where she stood a few yards from the southern edge of the
work area, Hellyer, who wore a pale blue hard hat and bright yellow
safety vest over her coat, watched as workers guided concrete
down through an enormous grid of steel bars to create the building pad.
After it was poured, workers ensured a tight pour by dipping lowering vibrating devices attached
to hoses directly into the concrete. It took about 95 truckloads of concrete to create the 5-footdeep
foundation that will support several elevators that are seven stories high in the center of the
hospital.
Even Hellyer noted, "That's a lot of concrete." It would be equivalent to a standard 3-foot-wide
pedestrian sidewalk that measures about a third of a mile, said construction managers at Mortenson/
Tonn & Blank.
The constant flow of trucks -- largely on Eddy Street, Indiana 23 and Douglas Road -- was
conspicuous for many area motorists. It was not unusual to see two or even three trucks in a row
traveling to or from the site, where the work was much more hidden.
But the steel is ordered, said Hellyer, and that will be much more visible to the public.
Hospital structural framing will be well under way by the summer so the building will be enclosed
for the interior work to start by summer 2008.
Hospital fun fact
About 4.1 million pounds of concrete was
placed on Wednesday, but that is only
about 4 percent of the total concrete that
will be needed for the entire project.
It will take another full year to complete the interior
work and to relocate and install the technology and
equipment. A fall 2009 opening is planned.
The $355 million hospital is expected to hold 254 private
inpatient rooms and baths in two towers that will
be built west of the foundation pad that was poured on
Wednesday.
Parking will be built to the east of the pad, she said. The diagnostic and treatment center will be
located north of the work area, and the cafeteria is planned south of the pad.
"It has been kind of boring, until now," said Mike Stack, public relations coordinator at Saint Joseph
Regional Medical Center. Some site preparation activity, which began in October, continues
on the 90 acres, even as construction begins.
"Today is significant. Even I got charged up this morning, when I saw three trucks on the road
that had been here," said Stack. "Until people see something like this, there will be doubt. Now
they know this is for real, this is happening."
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