{"id":81705,"date":"2013-08-08T15:07:56","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T19:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=81705"},"modified":"2015-12-14T10:28:09","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T15:28:09","slug":"topping-off-the-outpatient-care-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/08\/topping-off-the-outpatient-care-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Topping Off the Outpatient Care Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
Click photo above to view photo gallery. (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new outpatient care center was the site of a traditional \u201ctopping off\u201d event today to celebrate a major construction milestone: erecting the highest piece of structural steel for the building located on the UConn Health Center\u2019s lower campus.<\/p>\n

Construction workers, Health Center administrators and medical staff were among those who signed the large steel beam before it was hoisted by a crane to the top of the building. Attached to the beam was a tree and American flag which follows the \u201ctopping off\u201d tradition.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been seven months since construction started on what will be a 300,000-square-foot outpatient building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transformation is well underway. We are on time and on target to complete this very important project,\u201d says Amanda Hopkins Tirrell, chief operating officer of the UConn Medical Group, the UConn Health Center\u2019s faculty practice enterprise. \u201cIt is amazing to witness what has\u00a0 already risen from the ground in the last several months. When we open the doors late next year, we will revolutionize the patient care experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ground broke in February on the structure that will house eight floors of mostly clinical space, with some administrative, educational, and conference space. A few months later began construction on a complementary 1,400-space parking garage, due to open by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

The fast-track construction will provide a home for the clinical services displaced by the eventual demolition of the Dowling North and Dowling South buildings as part of the state\u2019s agreement with The Jackson Laboratory. Construction of The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine<\/a> is also well underway, with a target opening in the fall of 2014.<\/p>\n

Originally referred to as the ACC (Ambulatory Care Center), the yet-to-be-officially named building will include 233 exam rooms, 24 infusion chairs, 26 orthodontic chairs, 105 clinical faculty offices and 16 conference rooms, according to the latest plans:<\/p>\n