HOSPITAL LETS BIDS TOPPING $13 MILLION

Bids have been let for construction of a four-story, 105,000-square-foot clinical services building at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Southeast administrator James W. Wente has announced that contracts totaling more than $13.3 million have been let to three firms.

A Cape Girardeau firm, Kiefner Brothers, has been awarded the general contract $7,824,350 for the project, the 12th and most extensive expansion ever undertaken by the hospital.

The clinical services building will be built just east of the Harrison Annex.

Other bids that have been let are mechanical contract of the project, a $3,938,750 contract awarded to Corrigan Co. of St. Louis, and the electrical contract, a $1,642,000 bid by Aschinger Electric of Farmington.

Wente noted that a total of 14 bids were received five by general construction companies, five mechanical contractors and four electrical contractors.

"The project will cost an estimated $19 million," said Wente. "That figure includes professional fees, owner-furnished equipment, insurance and capitalized interest."

Construction of the new addition, which gets under way in one week with ground preparations, will increase the hospital's under-roof space by 40 percent, to more than 355,000 square feet.

The building will house new emergency services and radiology departments, expanded surgery and anesthesia services, additional intensive care beds, expanded cardiac catheterization and non-invasive cardiology services, additional clinical laboratory space and a new heliport for LifeBeat Air Medical Service.

"This project is proceeding on the timetable we had established during early planning stages," said Wente. "We're optimistic that we'll meet our occupancy goal of January 1995."

The hospital has enjoyed a long and professional satisfying relationship with the project's general contractor.

"Our working relationship with Kiefner Brothers has been very positive," said Wente. "We're confident that when the project is complete, it will meet our every expectation."

Kiefner Brothers was also the successful bidder for a mechanical building now under construction on the southeast corner of the hospital's campus.

That project, an adjunct to the clinical services building, will house air conditioner chillers and two emergency generators, noted Wente. A fall completion date is anticipated for the mechanical building.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new clinical services building will be held at 9 a.m. Friday on the hospital's east parking lot.

"The entire community is welcome to attend this ceremony," said Wente. "The community has always been an important part of Southeast Missouri Hospital, and construction of this new facility will help us meet the growing health care needs of the community and the region."