Denver’s Mortenson Construction marked completion of the concrete and steel-frame construction of the Exempla Saint Joseph replacement hospital with a topping-out ceremony at the jobsite in Denver on April 18.
The new Saint Joseph replacement hospital is located adjacent to the current hospital campus east of downtown. The 831,327-sq-ft facility will be a full-service hospital housing all standard-care departments and services. The facility is being built to accommodate 348 patient beds and has a freestanding central utility plant that will serve the main hospital building and others on the campus. The hospital will have eight floors and a rooftop helipad and also includes a centerpiece chapel structure, central courtyard, balconies at every level and a rooftop garden.
The hospital’s 115,68-sq-ft first floor will include entrances for inpatient, outpatient and emergency services, along with space dedicated to medical imaging, a library, spiritual care, a cafeteria and a gift shop. The emergency department will house 40 treatment rooms, four trauma rooms and 15 observation rooms.
Mortenson is also the contractor for a 565-space hospital-parking structure at the corner of Downing Street and 18th Avenue. It will provide parking for the hospital’s employees and closely mirror the appearance of the hospital’s 700-space visitors garage to enhance campus continuity and neighborhood aesthetics. It is a six-level structure with engineered capacity to add three more levels of parking.
“The whole community is so excited to be able to use this building and this facility,” said Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks at the topping out.
General contractor Mortenson’s major specialty-contractor partners include U.S. Engineering and Encore Electric. The design team is led by Denver’s Davis Partnership, H+L Architecture and ZGF as architects, Cator Ruma as mechanical-electrical engineer, and Martin/Martin as the civil and structural engineer.
