The University of California Board of Regents has approved funding plans for the new UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay.
The San Francisco hospital complex will include a 183-bed children’s hospital with urgent/emergency care, primary care and specialty outpatient services, a women’s hospital offering cancer care, specialty surgery and a 36-bed birth center and a 70-bed adult hospital for cancer patients.
Officials say the close proximity of the proposed hospital complex to UCSF’s 42.5-acre biomedical research campus will help speed the application of laboratory discoveries to the treatment of patients in the Bay Area and beyond.
After nearly a decade of planning, site preparations are under way on the 14.5-acre parcel of land. Construction of the 878,000-square-foot hospital complex will begin on schedule in December, after required state permits are expected to be issued. Completion is scheduled for 2014.
“The regents’ approval is a major milestone for UCSF and for our family of supporters throughout the community,” said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH. “It is hard to overstate the importance of the new Medical Center at Mission Bay, which will reinforce UCSF and the entire Bay Area as a hub of innovation, biotechnology and premier healthcare.”
“The greatest legacy of the Regents’ decision to approve this new medical center will be the thousands of patient lives that are saved or improved because of the cutting-edge medical care that will be provided in these facilities,” said Mark Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
The regents approved the project cost at $1.52 billion, down $166 million from prior estimates because of a variety of cost-saving measures. The project will be funded through a combination of debt financing, philanthropic gifts and hospital reserves.
According to Cindy Lima, executive director of the Mission Bay Hospitals Project, expenses were reduced through the use of sophisticated computer modeling that enabled designers to "virtually" build the hospital and resolve costly issues and improve productivity prior to the beginning of construction.
Donations have been robust, officials said, with nearly $325 million raised toward the $600 million fundraising campaign, including two pledges of $100 million or more. In March 2009, The Atlantic Philanthropies and its founder Charles F. Feeney made a $125 million matching gift, followed by a $100 million private donation from Lynne and Marc Benioff in June 2010 to the newly renamed UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
“We are fortunate to have a remarkable group of supporters who, in tough economic times, have chosen to invest in this project in such a profound way. Because of their support, we will be able to further UCSF’s mission of advancing health worldwide,” Laret said.
The project also has been designed with sustainability in mind and will be certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Officials say energy and water conservation measures, green spaces and use of non-toxic materials will be among the most extensive of any urban U.S. hospital.