“There’s been a boom the last few years with the (Base Realignment and Closure) work; but now, with all the money crunch that the government is seeing, construction is severely cut back,” he said.
“For the people who follow that type of work there is far fewer jobs to bid on, so when there is something to bid on there’s intense competition,” Butt said.
“The government got a really good deal,” he said.
The 2005 BRAC law brought more than $330 million in construction and a net gain of about 1,200 jobs to Wright-Patterson.
Separately, the medical center project will modernize 30 in-patient and out-patient departments, or about 250,000 square feet of the 1950s-era building with “state-of-the-art” facilities and consolidate major services, said Col. Stephen W. Higgins, hospital administrator.
The scope of the work will include everything from remodeling medical residents’ rooms to the kitchen and dining area, and renovations from a dental clinic to the intensive care unit.
The project, known as Gateway to Healthcare, is the third and final phase of renovations since 2005 in the 780,000-square-foot facility with 60 beds. The latest work began in January with a completion date of November 2014, said Andrew Shirey, director of facility management.
“They’re almost building a new hospital,” said Bryan Bucklew, president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
The medical center treats more than 300,000 patients a year with a staff of 2,200 military and civilian employees, Higgins said.
The project will consolidate clinical, surgical, anesthesia and mental health areas and hospital and administrative management for easier patient access; and redesign and renovate a 1950s-era kitchen and dining area. Business and other support services will move to the basement.
The work has shifted some patients temporarily to new quarters. Mental health services, for example, and hospital management staff relocated to trailers outside the building.
The Walsh Group and Butt Construction are the chief contractors under the $74 million renovation, which excludes other expenses such as architectural services, Butt said. An estimated 250 construction workers will work on the renovation, he said.
The Air Force budgeted up to $115 million for the project, Higgins said. The service spent $38 million in two prior phases that added clinical space and expanded the hospital. The Air Force had originally estimated it would cost $800 million to replace the hospital.
The Wright-Patterson work is the latest in a string of major construction in health care in the region. The Dayton Daily News reported in December 2010 that Miami Valley Hospital had $1.3 billion in expected or completed construction the past five years.
Two other major medical construction projects completed this year include:
• In February, the $135 million, Soin Medical Center opened in Beavercreek, the first hospital in the community of 45,000.
• Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville doubled in size when it opened a $51 million, five-story patient tower expansion.
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