COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — GE Johnson recently placed the final precast beam on the St. Francis Medical Center Expansion and Renovation project in Colorado Springs.

The milestone was celebrated with a socially distanced ceremony with Penrose-St. Francis Health Services team members, the design team, community leaders, and construction trade partners. Speakers included Brian Erling, MD, MBA, President and CEO of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services; and Calvin Eisenach, Vice President of Operations of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. Rev. Dr. Timothy Corbley, I. V. Dei, Director of Mission and Ministry for Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, led the audience in prayer and blessed the beam before it was lifted into place.

The fifth and sixth floor expansion will provide 30 medical-surgical rooms, 30 intensive care units for the hospital, and a Flight for Life helipad. In January, the team shut down a 60-foot radius around the precast cores in the existing hospital, relocating traffic, parking, patients, services, and staff to keep the hospital operating and safe, away from the erection zone. Precast erection took place on weekends to allow minimal impacts to the hospital.

The kitchen renovation consists of a complete gut and remodel that will provide the hospital with new appliances to include hoods, exhaust fans, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, and stoves. The kitchen staff of the hospital are currently operating out of temporary trailers to continue providing patient meals. Upon completion of the kitchen, construction of the loading dock expansion will take place. This expansion will be both horizontal and vertical and provide a receiving area, administrative space, conference room, and support service for the fifth and sixth floor addition. The project is currently set to complete in the spring of 2022.

This project is GE Johnson’s second major renovation to the Penrose-St. Francis campus. GE Johnson built the original hospital in 2008.