A new medical pavilion will bring numerous medical services under one roof in a booming district in Iowa.

Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa (PCI) has prided itself on offering exemplary care to patients in Cedar Rapids and its surrounding area for 15 years. Patients currently receive medical and surgical care in several PCI locations. This sprawl is one aspect of operations where PCI leadership saw as an opportunity for improvement.

“We’re an independent physicians’ group with 20-plus specialties in five different buildings, which poses a challenge for coordinating patient care,” Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Michelle Luty notes. “A group of our physicians began to look at a better way to deliver our services by combining all specialties into a single facility.  The goal is to improve patient care and coordinate communication between our doctors all under one roof.”

Construction began in June 2011 on a $44 million, three-story, 220,000-square-foot medical pavilion in Cedar Rapids that will consolidate the clinic’s services as well as offer leased space to other medical providers in a mall-like setting. BBL Construction Services is serving as the design/builder on the project.

The building’s cast-in-place concrete foundation, structural steel, and exterior building shell are complete. Current work includes MEP rough-in, interior finishes and brick veneer. Parking ramp construction is scheduled to begin May 2012. Project Manager Kevin Moore says. Substantial completion is still slated for January 2013, despite a later than expected start date and unplanned soil remediation.

The building’s exterior will feature natural stone, brick veneer, metal wall panels, and a structural curtain wall system.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

The pavilion will include surgical specialties, hematology, oncology and laboratory facilities on its first and second floors and a community education center on its partial third story. Tenants will include a cardiology group, prosthetics group, women’s health center, community cancer center and a pharmacy. The rear of the facility will feature a common corridor connecting various offices and clinical spaces, allowing physicians to easily travel between clinics and share information, says Angie Kuhn, Senior Director of Group Operations for Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa.

The pavilion’s location in the Medquarter Regional Medical District in Cedar Rapids also offers convenience for patients, as it is near several other practices and regional medical facilities. A sky bridge will connect the facility to the adjacent Surgery Center Cedar Rapids, Kuhn adds.

The building is designed to have a comfortable, easy-to-navigate environment. Notable building features include two skylights in the main atrium of the building and a patient drop-off canopy at both the front and back entrances, says Luty.

Other site features include a second sky bridge connecting to an adjacent 475-car garage and on-grade parking lots providing an additional 550 spaces.

STRONG LOCAL PRESENCE

Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa was drawn to BBL Construction Services in part because of the Albany, N.Y., contractor’s experience building similar medical pavilions on the East Coast, Kuhn says. 

“This is a unique concept, so we wanted someone who has done this before and brings a high level of expertise to the project,” she adds.

As the design/builder on the facility, BBL is in constant communication with Physicians’ Clinic of Iowa regarding space programming and design. “One of the things that is so important to this type of delivery method is the ability to get answers quickly,” Project Executive Jeff Attanasio says. “PCI has done a fantastic job in getting information to us quickly, which was instrumental in keeping this project moving swiftly.”

The company also worked closely with the City of Cedar Rapids on utility line relocations and traffic coordination.

BBL’s team of subcontractors, which includes a number of qualified local companies, is led by BBL’s field team.

“I think we’ve got a great team,” Moore says. “One thing that was very important to us was pulling together a workforce local to Cedar Rapids and the surrounding area.”

Major subcontractors include HVAC contractor Ladco Inc., plumbing contractor Modern Piping, foundation contractor Miron Construction Inc., steel erectors Northwest Erectors, fire protection contractor Iowa Fire Protection, curtain wall and wall panel contractor Midwest Glazing, masonry contractor S. Moyle Masonry, sitework contractor Dave Schmitt Construction, exterior framing contractor Olympic Companies and roofing contractor D.C. Taylor.

As the design/builder on the project, BBL manages the entire design team and worked closely with Dan Patane at architectural firm HCP Architects, structural engineer Stroud Pence Associates, MEP engineer KRS Engineering, civil engineer Schnoor-Bonifazi Engineering, and interior designer Regent Design, Attanasio notes.