YPSILANTI - In an area dominated by low-level buildings, the 13-story critical care tower going up on the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital's 360-acre campus is difficult to miss.

The landmark building will be the largest and most visible symbol of the St. Joseph Mercy Health System's $100 million "Renewal Campaign." The money will fund the construction of two new patient towers and the nearby 60,000-square-feet Surgery Pavilion.

When construction is complete in 2011, the hospital will have a total of 750,000 square-feet of more efficient space - a gain of about 100,000 square-feet.

"A crane visible from nearby U.S. 23 serves "as a reminder that St. Joe's is on the Road to Renewal and, through these construction projects, is renewing its mission to heal body, mind and spirit and to improve the health of our communities," said William B. Holmes, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Development Committee chairman.

The renewal theme for transforming health care delivery at the hospital provides a reminder for how quickly medical care is changing. St. Joseph's hospital was built in 1977, but emerging technologies, new health care practices and patient desires have made their patient and surgical areas outmoded.

Thomas Tocco, St. Joseph Mercy Health System's director of facilities and engineering, said a number of issues tilted the decision in favor of building new patient room and surgical space instead of performing renovations:

• Patients desired larger private rooms with modern amenities.
• The existing space was built in the 1977 for a medical construction model that, at the time, hadn't changed much in three decades. Modern equipment demands different space and infrastructure.
• Each floor for the new space for patient rooms will be wider and incorporate a modern "race track" design, with a center hallway for traffic and nursing stations and patient rooms on either side.
• "Infrastructure takes a beating in health care, and we tapped out the useful life of the mechanical systems," Tocco said. For example, he said medical gas systems had been retrofitted numerous times, and the hospital's electrical capacity is half of what's optimally needed.
• There was sufficient space on the campus to erect new buildings without impacting existing health care operations.

The building process for the tower, which began last year, is being managed by Christman Construction. St. Joe's will replace its existing patient rooms in phases, which will ensure that all hospital beds remain in service throughout construction. The new 13-story critical care tower, will include 324 hospital beds and 36 select specialty beds. A seven-story patient building with 216 beds will also be constructed. The hospital will demolish some of its existing in-patient bed facility to make room for one of the new towers. The hospital is also getting a new entrance, atrium and chapel.

The hospital complex's heating, cooling and electrical systems are being upgraded, with the installation of two 1,500-ton chillers and five new emergency generators.

Barton Malow is managing construction at St. Joe's new surgery pavilion, which will allow the hospital to double the size of 16 operating rooms in the main OR to accommodate state-of-the-art and evolving equipment and procedures and increase patient prep/recovery space. A massive infrastructure of wires will link health care personnel throughout the complex. All the work is set for completion in 2011.

"We're well situated in the Ann Arbor area, we're fortunate to have a wealth of good subcontractors and trades people," Tocco said. "We will be well-served for many years."

Some 280 Hardhats are working on the project - 200 on the 13-story tower (set for completion in August 2007) and another 80 at the surgical pavilion (which should be ready for patients in mid-December).

"We've had really good cooperation from the subs and the trades, and you couldn't ask for a better owner," said Michael Adler, project superintendent for Christman. "Things have gone really well."

Tocco said the team involved in the new design "made dozens of road trips to get best practices from health care facilities around the country, " looking for ideas on how to improve patient services and maximize movement efficiency for employees. Even a group of "alumni" patients provided input.

"There's not one authority in the country that knows everything, and has the perfect facility," Tocco said. "But we're going to be right out in front."

THIS 13-STORY patient tower is already a landmark for St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

ASSEMBLING A SPIRAL DUCT at the new St. Joseph Hospital patient tower is Glen Head of Sheet Metal Workers Local 80 and Ventcon.