Loma Linda University Breaks Ground on Parking Garage

LOMA LINDA, Calif. — The implementation of an $800 million, 10-year capital improvement program at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California kicked off in October with the groundbreaking for a $17.1 million parking structure.

The seven-level garage is the first phase of the improvement plan, which will help the medical center “maintain seismic compliance with the state of California per Senate Bill 1953 and all associated subsequent [bills],” said Robert Cole, owner’s construction superintendent at Loma Linda University.

It will be the third garage on campus, adding 1,171 stalls to the 1,130 stalls in the other two parking facilities nearby. Located directly across the street from the university’s medical center, the garage will be used by 90 percent of university employees. There will also be a small area dedicated to Emergency Room parking on the first level.

The general contractor for the 464,000-square-foot structure is Bomel Construction Co., based in Anaheim Hills, Calif., and the architect is Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based International Parking Design. Both are working on the design-build project, which is slated for completion by the end of 2013.

To make room for the new garage, Bomel demolished five university-owned homes, used for a variety of school functions. The construction company also has to reroute all utilities and storm drains. The team has already removed one road to create another one, to be named Victoria Molmar Way. It is about 600 feet long and will be used as an entrance for the parking structure.

One of the structure’s major appeals is the helix ramp located on the outside edge of the garage, in which cars can move from floor to floor without having to drive on each one.

Once completed, the next phase of expansion will be the construction of two multi-story patient towers: one for adults and one for children. Apart from meeting the state’s required standards, the university’s goal is to create a “seismically safe, compliant facility that provides an environment in which our institution can take strategic strides toward continuing to improve our ability to carry out effective patient care in a manner that is in alignment with our mission,” Cole said.

Loma Linda University is a Seventh-day Adventist educational health-sciences institution that has more than 4,000 students, and the medical center provides care for more than 33,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatients each year.