THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504120167
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 156 lines
THE $330-MILLION construction project at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital is right on track, and the new hospital is scheduled for completion no later than October 1997.
Capt. Charles Fehlig, who's in charge of construction, says he is pleased with the work pace.
``We're changing the skyline of Portsmouth,'' Fehlig told members of the Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth recently. ``I'm pleased I am going to stay in Portsmouth and provide a world-class facility to take the Navy into the 21st century.''
The Navy's first hospital has changed Portsmouth's face several times since it opened in 1830. The last major construction was the high-rise building, known as Building 215, which opened in 1960.
The new project is ``significant in the United States,'' said Fehlig, an engineer who has been in the Navy for 26 years. ``It is the pinnacle of my career.''
The project is 90 percent designed and 70 percent of it is under construction. It has been ``fully authorized,'' he said, and all but $100 million of the estimated cost has been appropriated.
When the new, 1 million-square-foot hospital building is occupied, remodeling will begin on the existing facilities.
Building 1, the original Naval Hospital built in 1830 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be remodeled to house the offices of the hospital's commanding officer and the medical staff.
``This is the oldest continuously operating medical facility in the United States, military or civilian,'' Fehlig said. Building 1 houses the psychiatric wards and obstetrics and gynecology services. Both of these units will move into the new building.
Construction work on the project began March 4, 1993.
``We had many things to consider,'' Fehlig said.
The 107-acre base was ``very heavily developed,'' and the Navy had to design the new project keeping in mind historic preservation, the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding Portsmouth neigh-bor-hoods.
For instance, to avoid hauling concrete through the residential area, the Navy is bringing in materials by boat and mixing concrete on site.
The old ``energy building,'' which houses the base's heat and power sources, was saved by designing a 25,000-square-foot addition around the historic structure.
A 7.5-acre site on the water side of the base was cleared for new construction. However, the commanding officer's quarters was saved by moving it to another location on Crawford Bay to the site of the home of the hospital's first director.
Thirty-five small buildings were taken down, and a gymnasium and a barracks have been constructed. Ninety percent of the utilities on the base have been placed underground, and drainage on the site was improved, work that included the front gate on Effingham Street.
``If you look at the guard shack, you will see that it has architectural features akin to those of the new hospital and parking building,'' Fehlig said.
A 2,400-space parking building was the first major construction and was ready for use before other work began. A garage addition with 1,000 more spaces is under construction.
Some of the chain-link fencing around the base already has been replaced with iron and brick fences, and other segments of the fence are scheduled to be replaced.
The Navy spent about $50 million getting the site ready.
``We're parking some vehicles on Hospital Point,'' Fehlig said. ``When construction is finished, we'll go back and restore it to a park.''
Old trees were saved in the open space between the original hospital and the Elizabeth River in order to keep the scenic space on the water.
The new main hospital building, which is designed to complement the 1830 structure, contains five floors.
``But it's really eight stories,'' Fehlig said, explaining what he called the interstitial concept of building floors between floors to locate utilities and air movers in the hospital units.
The new building is ``heavily designed'' for outpatient care, Fehlig said, noting that the building was planned to accommodate new directions in medicine.
``About 800,000 outpatients visit the hospital per year,'' he said. The first two floors of the new building will be used for outpatient treatment.
Originally, the Navy had planned a 464-bed facility, Fehlig said.
``Then it was lowered to 363 beds but with no change in the square footage of the building.'' Fehlig said it would have cost more to redesign the building than to build the structure already engineered.
The third and fourth floors will be inpatient medical, surgical and intensive-care units. The psychiatry section will move to the top floor.
Pedestrian bridges will connect the new building, the parking decks, Building 215 and Building 1.
Building 215, the high-rise that opened in 1960, will be remodeled to house some clinics and offices. An original plan to use the top floors for barracks has been scratched.
After construction is finished in 1997, the move to the new building probably will not be completed until the spring of 1998, Fehlig said. ``It'll cost $120 million to move in.''
The new building will have 26 elevators, Fehlig said, and renovations at Building 215, where elevators are difficult to catch, will include the addition of three new elevator towers.
The 7.5-acre site was raised above the 100-year flood plain by hauling in 60,000 yards of fill material, he said. The building stands on 3,000 concrete pilings driven 40 to 50 feet deep.
Asked by a Kiwanian about expansion in the event of war or other emergency needs, Fehlig said the building is designed to double the number of beds.
``We have the flexibility in the design for just that reason,'' he said.
``This probably is the last hospital the Navy will ever build.'' MEMO: Fisher House will accommodate the families of patients
Fisher House, a new brick building under construction on the Parkview
Avenue side of the hospital, will include six suites to accommodate
families of patients in the hospital.
It is one of 22 houses built near medical facilities on U.S. military
bases, by Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher of New York City. The houses
operate much the same as the Ronald McDonald Houses near children's
hospitals.
The Fishers already were involved with a volunteer Portsmouth group
that started Chisholm House to house families and outpatients who live
too far from the hospital for a one-day trip.
The local organization owns six condominiums in a new building in
Olde Towne. Fisher contributed $398,000 to help purchase additional
units after the volunteers opened the first units.
Persons who stay in the apartments pay $15 a day for a bedroom. They
may rent the entire apartment at that rate or share with others.
Mary Johnson, originator of Chisholm House, said the Olde Towne
facilities will be called Fisher House Apartments when the new facility
on the base opens.
She said the need for overnight accommodations for outpatients as
well as for long-term stays by patients' families creates a need for the
off-base facility.
ILLUSTRATION: CHANGING PORTSMOUTH SKYLINE
[Color Photo]
ON THE COVER
Capt. Charles Fehlig is in charge of the $330-million construction
project at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Staff photo by Christopher
Reddick.
Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Seventy percent of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital's new facility is
under construction. The building will boast 1 million-square-feet.
File photo
Building 1, the original Naval Hospital built in 1830, will be
remodeled to house the offices.
Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Construction on the new hospital complex began on March 4, 1993.
When complete, it will be a 363-bed facility.
File photo
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION by CNB