Board approves new parking structure
As the growth spurt of Community Regional Medical Center continues, the board of trustees turned its attention toward parking, approving a six-story structure to be completed by March 2009.
The project coincides with plans to construct a new four-story, 88,000-square foot medical office building (M.O.B.) and pedestrian bridges connecting to the existing M.O.B., parking structure and new trauma and critical care building.
The $23.1 million parking structure features 1,534 parking stalls – 450 for tenants of the new M.O.B. and 1,084 for Community employees.
“The parking initiative is in line with the 30-year long-range plan approved by the board of trustees in February 2002,” said Mark Mathieson, Community’s vice president of construction and facilities planning. “We’re keeping pace with the growing demand for more on-campus parking as we continue to grow centers of excellence and enhance current levels of service.”
Local developer The Penstar Group, through a bidding process, selected Matt Construction Corporation to construct the project.
The projects will take up the entire city block of Thesta Street between Divisadero and Illinois avenues on the west side of the UCSF Fresno building. The new M.O.B. will sit at the south end of the block, with the parking structure taking up the rest of the space.
Mathieson said he anticipates the block – which currently holds 336 parking stalls – will be closed in December for construction. Employee parking will be transferred to the existing lots north of Illinois Avenue in the meantime.
This story was reported by Eddie Hughes. He can be reached at eddieh@communitymedical.org.