Story

Since the closing of DC General in 2001, communities East of the Anacostia River have needed a high-quality and accessible healthcare system. Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center (CHRMC), named after Frederick Douglass’s historic residence in Anacostia and in recognition of his commitment to justice and empowerment for his community, the District, and the Nation, was carefully designed and built over the course of five years and is the District’s first new hospital in 25 years. CHRMC is a 136-bed full-service community hospital and ambulatory care center, with capacity for a future 48-bed expansion. Its services include a trauma center with rooftop helipad for critical transports, outpatient clinics, surgical suites, imaging, specialists and dialysis, a children’s emergency department, and behavioral health unit. Most importantly, it includes a comprehensive maternal health and delivery unit, including a Level II NICU, allowing mothers to receive prenatal care and their babies to be born in a modern facility close to home. This key health service has been absent East of the River since United Medical Center closed its maternity ward in 2017. Additionally, a newly constructed 500-car precast parking garage structure completes the CHRMC campus. The building is clad in brick veneered precast to mimic the architectural character and integrity of the surrounding buildings on the historical St. Elizabeths campus – all exterior architectural selections had to be approved by the District’s Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). Provided inside of this state-of-the art healthcare facility are all of the necessary services to extend the life-span of this community that is currently 30 years shorter than the neighboring wards in NW DC; with walls adorned by art from local creatives reminding all who enter that this hospital is located in the District for the people of the District. The Turner-MCN JV team encountered a number of unique challenges including existing structures from a previously demolished building below ground, proximity to an operating underground metro train station, site adjacency to historic buildings, and contaminated soils which forced the design criteria to include seismic requirements. Careful planning and coordination with WMATA allowed us to install special auger cast piles near the train line’s Zone of Influence with zero impact to Metro operation. Coordination with The District allowed us to carefully remove and dispose of hazardous materials found in abandoned underground structures while our foundation trade partners’ expertise provided the design for a retaining wall adjacent to historic buildings, leaving them intact. The project is pursuing LEED Silver certification and is also subject to DC’s strict energy codes which dictated envelope as well as mechanical & electrical design elements. Finally, the construction of Cedar Hill supported over 2,300 jobs including over 300 new hires from Wards 5, 7, and 8. We also implemented a Project Labor Agreement with local unions, while simultaneously contracting with District Certified Businesses Enterprises for $123M in goods and services, including $42M with businesses located in Wards 5, 7, and 8.