Kaiser Panorama City nearing completion.

Crews are entering the final construction phase of a new, $267 million acute-care hospital at Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center.

The 400,000-square-foot project just south of the existing 1960s-era facility at Roscoe Boulevard and Woodman Avenue is slated to come online within six months, said hospital spokeswoman Virginia Baca.

"We're still wrapping construction," she said. "We're looking at late summer or early fall."

The new facility, which will be connected to the old hospital at its basement, includes 218 beds, a labor and delivery center, neonatal intensive care, acute- and critical-care nursing and inpatient and outpatient surgery.

The expansion, originally budgeted for around $130 million, was prompted by increased demand and seismic concerns. Crews broke ground in fall 2003.

Anshen + Allen is the architect.

Panorama City is the second largest hospital project in the Valley area to finish construction this year; work is slated to finish this month on the new patient care tower at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Kaiser is also expanding its De Soto Avenue campus in Woodland Hills by building out a portion of an unused tower.

BY CHRIS COATES

Staff Reporter

Staff Reporter Chris Coates can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].