Project will create 4,400 jobs at peak of construction

Contact: Michelle O'Keefe
Phone: (317) 630-6863 
Pager: (317) 310-5972

Indianapolis, December 17, 2009 – In November, Marion County voters overwhelmingly approved the project to construct a new Wishard Hospital. Today, a landslide of area construction firm leaders and managers descended on Wishard’s current facility to learn more about contract work to build the new Wishard.

Wishard’s project team leadership introduced contractors to the construction bid process, which began this month with the release of the initial construction bid package that includes a 2,300-car parking garage. Wishard shuttled participants to the new hospital’s site between 10th Street and Michigan Street on the west side of the IUPUI campus for a tour before an informational meeting and a contractor outreach event at Wishard that included a Minority Business Enterprise, Women Business Enterprise and Veterans Business Enterprise (M/W/VBE) networking session.
"We're thrilled with the level of interest from the construction community and are dedicated to diversity in everything we do," said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health and Hospital Corporation, which manages Wishard. "We commit to provide the maximum opportunity for participation in competition to the full range of businesses including minority-, women-, veteran- and individuals with disabilities-owned enterprises."
Tom Ringham, Wishard's associate vice president of facilities and transformation, and Wayne Modugno, project director, Jacobs Project Management, presented an overview of the construction timeline for the new Wishard, which Wishard plans to wrap up in 2013, and provided attendees with details on the initial construction bid package, which includes a 2,300-car parking garage as well as utilities work and grading for the new hospital. Greg Wilson, director of minority business development for the Office of Indianapolis Mayor Gregory A. Ballard, spoke in regard to diversity attainment strategies and goals.
"The City is proud to take a leadership role alongside Wishard to build the future of Indianapolis healthcare with a collection of contractors as diverse and hardworking as the people of Indianapolis," said Wilson. "We will build Wishard as part of Mayor Ballard’s vision for Indianapolis as a world-class city, as the gold standard for diversity, sustainability and progress, and we will make it a model toward which the rest of the country can aspire."
The M/W/VBE networking event created an environment for M/W/VBEs and companies to meet and discuss potential opportunities for work. 
The initial parking garage bid package alone, plus the demolition work that began immediately following the election, will generate 315 jobs in 2010 and another 524 in 2011, and will provide an economic impact to Marion County of nearly $28 million in 2010 and more than $46.5 million in 2011. The entire project to build a new Wishard will provide a much-needed shot in the arm to the local building trades community and will create more than 4,400 jobs at the height of construction.
Project leaders provided details and answered questions about the entire 1.2-million square foot facility, which will house 315 inpatients beds, 18 operating rooms, 12 labor and delivery rooms and a 90-bed treatment room emergency department. Wishard will also construct an ambulatory clinic building, an administrative office building and a central utility plant on the site.
"This step marks further progress in our vision to build a future for Indianapolis healthcare that provides the highest quality care to all, without regard to income or ability to pay, in a facility that is smart, efficient, modern and aesthetically pleasing, and that is built on a foundation of diversity, integrity and financial responsibility," said Dr. Lisa Harris, Wishard Health Services CEO and medical director.
Thursday's informational meeting was the second this week. On Tuesday, the Indiana Subcontractors Association held a meeting at the Indiana Historical Society, where Wishard project leaders delivered a presentation to more than 400 interested building trades leaders. The presentation featured tips on how companies can best prepare to submit quality bids in a timely fashion. Program coordinators said no project has drawn interest comparable to that of the Wishard project – not even the United Airlines Facility Maintenance Hub nearly 20 years ago, which was then the largest project in the history of central Indiana.
"The Wishard project provides the best opportunity yet for design professionals and contractors to demonstrate that central Indiana is justifiably one of the best places to build in the world," said Gary Price, president of the Indiana Construction Roundtable (ICR), an organization that represents every facet of the construction industry. "Our industry here is unique in many ways, but objectively, it has invested more in the areas of safety, productivity and efficiency than anywhere else. There is no question that the industry will support Wishard’s need to have this new hospital built on time, on schedule and within the budget." 
Wishard will break ground on the new hospital in spring 2010. Wishard will construct the new hospital in phases that begin with the parking garage, and plans to complete the project at the end of 2013.