Out-patient center still on track

The Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine is moving smoothly toward a 2008 opening date, with only minor changes made to the original plans.

Though Rafael Vinoly Architects, one of the project's two architectural firms, is being sued for its work on the Kimmel Center in Center City due to cost overruns, officials on the Penn project don't expect trouble as a result.

Kevin Mahoney, the executive director of the project, has "no concerns about Rafael."

Jay Bargmann, a vice president at Rafael Vinoly, called the Kimmel Center's claim that the firm is responsible for the overruns "completely without foundation."

"We did our investigation and we remain comfortable with the selection," he said.

Even so, Penn is keeping a close watch on the project.

"We've been very clear about what the budget is," Mahoney said. "We don't anticipate cost overruns, but if there are, we're going to head them off at the start."

Changes to the project include the elimination of a rooftop garden for cost and privacy reasons. Still, work is moving forward.

Mary-Jean Eastman, the director of the other architecture firm involved with the project, does not anticipate any problems. "It's actually a very fluid team," she said.

Mahoney added that "the excavation is completed, the utilities [are] relocated and we're beginning construction on the parking lot."

Three weeks ago, University officials gave final approval to the $261 million plan. That money will fund a 400,000 square-foot low-rise hospital building. The center is expected to focus on cancer and heart disease.

The structure is being erected on the former site of Convention Hall at 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard.

"We've tried to build it so that our investment doesn't get torn apart every five to 10 years," Mahoney said.

The design calls for making dreary Civic Center Boulevard "green all the way through" so that it can be more accessible for pedestrians, Mahoney said.

The 18-foot-wide strip of trees and sidewalk that will separate the new building from the boulevard requires coordination with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which is building a new wing next door.

"We're down to picking which trash cans together, which lamps together," Mahoney said.

A strip of retail shops was just added to the design, next to a terrace that will be backed by a limestone frieze taken from the Convention Center before its demolition.

Eastman said that the project is "not that dissimilar from projects that other major medical centers are doing" and that the center is necessary to keep the University competitive.

"It is important for the Health System to be able to compete with facilities that are being built in other cities and in the suburbs," she said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.