The 460,000-square-foot structure was built just seven feet from an existing parking garage, and the 290-foot shared border proved to be a challenge. This required crews from Anaheim-based Bomel Construction Co. to work with surgical precision. Despite the spatial constraints, the project wrapped up 13 months and 30 days ahead of schedule, making it the first major project in the school’s capital improvement plan to reach completion.

Bomel credits favorable weather for the quick construction process. “It’s hard to believe when it’s been sunny and 80 degrees a lot this winter, but last year when we started construction it was raining, and it made things difficult and messy,” said Kasey Shay, project manager at Bomel. “We were dealing with tricky foundation issues, especially since we were working in close proximity…to an existing parking structure.” According to Shay, crews had to slot patch next to the existing structure to prevent surging or undermining while foundation work on the new garage was taking place.

The new garage will double the parking capacity of the two existing structures, built in the 1980s and 1990s, to keep pace with the growing campus community. An innovative helix design also improves on these existing resources by allowing drivers to ascend the structure via a ramp on the outside edge of the garage. This design also allows them to avoid driving on each individual floor.

“We have three main shift changes every day, so people are able to get in and out of the garage in a timely fashion,” said Robert Cole, the university’s project manager. “And most people are creatures of habit; they like to park on the same floor. The helix ramp allows them to go directly to their desired floor without having to trudge through each level. They get to their parking stall faster and in an environmentally-sensitive way since less fuel is burned when vehicles arrive at their destination in less time.”

Construction also required the demolition of five university-owned homes and the re-routing of utility and storm drains. Crews removed one existing road and created a new 600-foot replacement to serve as the structure’s entrance. The final phase of the project will include a 300-foot elevated walkway connecting the garage to the campus, which will likely be completed by August 2014.

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The seven-level garage is the first phase of the improvement plan, which will help the medical center “maintain seismic compliance with the state of California per Senate Bill 1953 and all associated subsequent [bills],” said Robert Cole, owner’s construction superintendent at Loma Linda University.

It will be the third garage on campus, adding 1,171 stalls to the 1,130 stalls in the other two parking facilities nearby. Located directly across the street from the university’s medical center, the garage will be used by 90 percent of university employees. There will also be a small area dedicated to Emergency Room parking on the first level.

The general contractor for the 464,000-square-foot structure is Bomel Construction Co., based in Anaheim Hills, Calif., and the architect is Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based International Parking Design. Both are working on the design-build project, which is slated for completion by the end of 2013.

To make room for the new garage, Bomel demolished five university-owned homes, used for a variety of school functions. The construction company also has to reroute all utilities and storm drains. The team has already removed one road to create another one, to be named Victoria Molmar Way. It is about 600 feet long and will be used as an entrance for the parking structure.

One of the structure’s major appeals is the helix ramp located on the outside edge of the garage, in which cars can move from floor to floor without having to drive on each one.

Once completed, the next phase of expansion will be the construction of two multi-story patient towers: one for adults and one for children. Apart from meeting the state’s required standards, the university’s goal is to create a “seismically safe, compliant facility that provides an environment in which our institution can take strategic strides toward continuing to improve our ability to carry out effective patient care in a manner that is in alignment with our mission,” Cole said.

Loma Linda University is a Seventh-day Adventist educational health-sciences institution that has more than 4,000 students, and the medical center provides care for more than 33,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatients each year.

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