Carolina municipal gov’t breaks ground on new $12.7M medical tower
The municipal government of the town of Carolina announced the start of construction of a new, $12.7 million medical tower that will incorporate retail spaces and a multi-level parking facility.
The new six-floor building will provide support to the Doctors’ Center Hospital San Fernando de la Carolina in the town’s urban center, Mayor José Carlos Aponte said.
Two of the new facility’s floors will be offices directly related to the San Fernando Hospital, while the municipality will rent the others to health professionals, he said.
The municipality will finance the project, whose design was commissioned to Architect Efrén Badía of Efrén Badia and Associates. The developer is Aireko Construction Management Services, LLC. The integrated municipal parking facility will have capacity for 158 vehicles.
The project will be built on three sites near the Carolina city hall. The municipal building will be similar to other medical towers throughout the island, and will feature a bridge that connects with the hospital.
“The establishment of our hospital has always gone hand-in-hand with a strategic plan for the economic development of the urban center and the town,” Aponte said.
“Once the hospital was established, and given the high volume of services it offers monthly, the next step is to create spaces for patients to have a nearby location to receive post-hospital services,” he said.
“We already have a group of specialist doctors interested in opening their offices in the medical tower and we also hope to have health-related services companies in the commercial area,” Aponte said.
The structure will have an emergency generator to run the entire building, elevators, and air conditioning in the common hallways and lobby. Construction is expected to be completed in 2022.
