Mayo adding to its campus

Expansion of Mayo Clinic's hospital campus in northeast Phoenix has begun, with work on one new building under way and planning for a second building in its early stages.

The first new structure is what officials describe as a much-needed addition to accommodate educational meetings and other conferences.

The second building will house a specialized cancer-treatment center with equipment for proton-beam therapy.

Mayo got approval in late 2009 to expand its campus to 7.8 million square feet from 5.9 million square feet. The facility occupies about 1 million square feet.

The hospital campus at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard has a hospital building and a specialty building connected to the northeastern corner.

Construction on the meeting center at the hospital's northwestern corner began the first of the year, and exterior construction will be completed in June. Interior finishes will require another year to complete.

The mission, according to project manager Tim Carpenter and architect Doug Siebert, both Mayo employees, is to develop a flexible space. Plans call for a room that can accommodate 300 people, which can be broken down into two rooms, as often seen in hotel ballrooms. Other smaller rooms might be included. The building will include a lobby and staging area for catering. It will be connected to the hospital building by a hallway.

The building is one story with 8,000 square feet of space.

The second structure is early in the planning stages. Early design work is scheduled to be finished next month, and officials hope to begin excavation in December or January on a 3 1/2-story building that will take up more than 300,000 square feet.

The building will include a concrete vault, the same height as the building and with a 30,000-square-foot footprint, that will house the equipment needed to conduct proton-beam therapy on cancer patients in cases where pinpoint precision in targeting tumors is required. Chris Hilgeman is project director for the building, and Todd Brown is director of planning and design.

by Michael Clancy The Arizona Republic Jun. 4, 2011 12:00 AM




Mayo adding to its campus