RETROFIT COSTS RISE FOR OLIVE.Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer With construction costs soaring, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County on Tuesday approved a $15.1 million contract for more seismic retrofitting at Olive View- UCLA Medical Center UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It is rated as one of the top three hospitals in the United States and is the top hospital on the West Coast according to US News & World Report. in Sylmar. The contract brings the total cost for seismic upgrades and a new 31,000-square-foot emergency room and tuberculosis unit to nearly $77 million -- or 30 percent higher than the original $58.5 million estimate. The supervisors set aside $100 million in September 2005 to upgrade county hospitals in order to meet the 2008 deadline for complying with tougher seismic standards. Last year, Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive David Janssen proposed a $419 million countywide hospital improvement plan that has since been revised to $767 million because of the rising construction costs. That plan includes $395 million to replace the emergency room and retrofit ret·ro·fit v. ret·ro·fit·ted or ret·ro·fit, ret·ro·fit·ting, ret·ro·fits v.tr. 1. To provide (a jet, automobile, computer, or factory, for example) with parts, devices, or equipment not in Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located within the city of Torrance, California, USA. The hospital was founded in 1946, and is funded by Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA serves as the Level I Trauma Center for the South Bay area. in Torrance and $99 million to upgrade at the High Desert Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center ambulatory care center Walk-in clinic Medical practice A free-standing facility that provides non-emergent medical, or less commonly, dental services in Lancaster. Olive View was heavily damaged in the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake and was rebuilt about a decade later. In the wake of the Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. that struck exactly 13 years ago today, the state has developed more stringent building codes. The supervisors had previously approved $23.5 million for the Olive View retrofit, but that has increased to $27.4 million. A $35 million budget approved for the new emergency room and TB unit has risen to $49 million. ``With costs escalating on construction budgets, we've had to up the budgets,'' said Andrew Moey, a project manager for public works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. . ``We had to put together an original cost estimate, but since then ... everything has gone up tremendously.'' The retrofit is expected to begin next month, with completion in December 2008. Construction of the emergency room and TB unit is set to begin later this year and be completed in 2010. Moey said a recent study found Olive View's emergency room has capacity to handle about half the patients it actually treats. TB patients had previously been treated at the High Desert Hospital in Lancaster. But after that facility was downsized several years ago, patients were transferred to isolation rooms at other public hospitals throughout the county. The new TB unit will accommodate 15 patients suffering from drug-resistant strains of the disease. troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com (213) 974-8985 |
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