Network Anchor

High Hopes Accompany Construction of Children's Hospital at Fitzsimons

On track to finish in late 2007, the $340 million hospital is expected to top out this month.

As the home to numerous nationally and internationally recognized medical programs and more than 1,100 pediatric specialists, the new state-of-the-art Children's Hospital at Fitzsimons will serve as the linchpin of a growing network of child health care services throughout the region when it opens in late 2007.

"Our vision is to create a resource for families and a health network for children, and as one of the premier children's hospitals in the world, our new facility will be the anchor of that pediatric network," said Dori Biester, president and CEO of The Children's Hospital.

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On Target

The completed hospital will include 264 inpatient beds, diagnostic and surgery facilities, outpatient clinics, medical staff and administrative offices and support services areas. Other components include surface and structure parking.

Construction of the $340 million facility - which will replace the existing hospital located at 1056 E. 19th Ave. in downtown Denver - began in June 2004 and is expected to finish in fall 2007. It's located on 41.25 acres at Fitzsimons, the medical campus being developed in Aurora by the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

"Right now we've got the structure up, and we're working on the sixth-floor steel and pouring the concrete," said Cris Goldy, project manager for general contractor Gerald H. Phipps Inc. "On the floors below that, the exterior is starting to go on and the rough-ins are beginning on the mechanical and electrical [systems]."

Phipps and McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is the joint-venture construction management team for the hospital.

So far, the construction team hasn't encountered any serious problems.

"The only challenge we had was last summer with the torrential downpours we received in July," Goldy said. "We had a lot of excavation that got flooded, but we've gotten over that."

In fact, the structure is expected to top out this month.

"We're targeting around the 17th through the 20th," Goldy said.

Denver's H+L Architecture is the architect-of-record while Zimmer Gunsel and Frasca Partnership of Portland, Ore. is the design architect. Other members of the design team include Baird, Rao and Athanas; Cator Ruma & Associates; and S.A. Miro Inc.

Kid Friendly

Features of the new hospital include private rooms with family sleeping accommodations, family storage, private baths, dataports and desks. Other family amenities include lounges and respite areas and additional sleeping and waiting areas with quiet zones.

Kid-friendly amenities include significant outdoor green space with children's play areas, child-sized countertops in the reception areas and a kids-only area with Internet access, activities, games and entertainment equipment.

Founded in 1908, The Children's Hospital is a private, not-for-profit pediatric health care network. It has been ranked one of the best children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report for more than a decade and was named the seventh best children's hospital in the nation in the February issue of Child magazine.

Children's provides care at its main campus and through a network that includes five community based, after-hours care sites, eight speciality care centers and more than 400 outreach clinics held in three states each year.

The construction cost of the new hospital itself is nearly $340 million. The total project cost is estimated at $458 million.

The hospital is in the midst of a comprehensive, $250 million fundraising campaign to help pay for the new building and support its programs and operations. The campaign is more than halfway toward its goal.

Hospital board members and its charitable foundation have pledged more than $55 million. Other significant donations include $10 million from the Monfort Family Foundation in Greeley, $5 million from the Boettcher Family Foundation in Denver and $1 million from the Colorado Wells Fargo Foundation.

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