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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Rio Rancho Hospital Will Have Helicopter Landing Pad

By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
       Presbyterian Healthcare Services' planned Rio Rancho hospital will feature its own helicopter landing pad and some of the city's tallest buildings.
    A site plan Presbyterian submitted to Rio Rancho's Planning and Zoning Board details build-out plans for a new hospital and associated medical offices that will serve growing populations in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque's West Side.
    Although the plan awaits city approval, city officials have hailed the hospital as a major boost to medical services available to residents.
    Presbyterian has scheduled a ceremonial groundbreaking for Aug. 1 at the hospital site. Presbyterian expects the $200 million hospital, dubbed the Presbyterian Rio Rancho Medical Center, to be operational in late 2010.
    The hospital site is northeast of Unser Boulevard and Black Arroyo Boulevard, immediately north of the Bernalillo/Sandoval county line and south of the Cabezon group of subdivisions.
    When the hospital is fully built, patients will be cared for in two tower structures that will rise six stories above the mesa landscape. Intel's computer chip plant has the only other buildings in Rio Rancho to rival that height. Presbyterian said the height is within the maximum allowed in the special-use designation on the 66-acre site. The rest of the hospital will be one to five stories high.
    Although the hospital will not be equipped to treat patients suffering the most severe trauma, an on-site helipad will allow helicopters to transport critically ill patients to other hospitals.
    Presbyterian's site plan anticipates that the hospital will receive two or three flights a month. The most common flight path to and from the hospital will be from the northwest above Unser to minimize overflying residential areas, the site plan says.
    Albuquerque architects Dekker, Perich, Sabatini's design for Presbyterian's Rio Rancho hospital allows for phased expansion to accommodate city growth. The first phase will consist of two buildings — a 404,345-square-foot hospital with space for 121 patient beds and 65 doctors — and a 14,954-square-foot utility plant.
    The second phase, expected to be completed in 2016, will add another 1.1 million square feet of hospital area that will increase the number of patient beds to 400. The number of doctors will increase to 170.
    The hospital will have two parking garages totaling more than 700,000 square feet and space to park 42 bicycles.
    The main vehicle access for the hospital will be via three access points from Vista Parkway, a new street that will run east from Unser, south of Westside Boulevard.
    Presbyterian is working with the Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority, which has agreed to prioritize drainage work in the Black Arroyo watershed to protect the hospital site from potential flood damage.