Gene Marrano
Carilion Clinic tower construction begins > A two-acre construction project that also required rerouting utility and city water lines is gathering momentum - and many can see evidence of that by just looking at the Roanoke skyline. The Carilion Clinic project was first announced more than two years ago. The second tallest man-made structure in Roanoke besides the Wells Fargo Tower right now isn't another downtown building – it’s the 240-foot-tall crane at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where work on a new hospital tower is getting underway in earnest after a delay last year due to the pandemic. Marty Misicko is Carilion's Vice President for Facilities and Construction on the expanded emergency department planned: “it will be relocated and reorganized. The ambulances will come behind the [new] tower instead of where the patients are coming in. The existing emergency department will tie into it.” Misicko says plans to build a new behavioral health building and a parking garage across from the hospital on South Jefferson Street as part of the project is on hold for now pending a financial assessment. The $400 million, 500,000 square foot addition that also includes more patient beds and a cardiovascular institute has gained momentum with the crane now assembled and ready to go. “We’re very excited,” says Misicko, “it’s going to make such a difference in this area and really be a beacon for cardiovascular care. We have an incredible staff and we’re bringing more in as this comes online.” The general contractor for the project is Robins and Morton from Birmingham.
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Branch Builds is their local partner. There are some challenges with the two-acre footprint for the new Carilion tower says Josh Farr, an onsite superintendent. “The [Mill] mountain falls towards the jobsite. A lot of blasting and hammering [of bedrock]. The existing utilities that run through the jobsite is probably another major constraint we have. There’s a very integral plan that we have to reroute these facilities around the site.” The Crystal Spring water pump station had to be moved, and the old pump station building is coming down well. Sam Burnette is with the Nashville architectural firm ESA, responsible for the design: “the challenge is taking this extremely important two-acre parcel and add this phenomenal tower – and keep the existing ambulance and services operational during the addition.” That will also entail the installation of some temporary elevators to reach the emergency department. The project completion date is set for January 2025.
