Metro Santurce Inc., owners of Pavía Hospital in Santurce, began construction of a $26 million, 296,500-square-foot, multistory structure next to its existing facilities designed to meet the hospital’s growing emergency care and parking needs.

The reinforced-concrete structure is slated for completion early next year. The first two floors will feature a new state-of-the-art emergency room including a trauma unit, a radiology room with a computer tomography (CT) scan, a 24-hour clinical laboratory and 45 new beds for patients. The remaining 11 levels will provide parking space for 481 vehicles.

The structure is being built on an L-shaped, 3,236-square-meter lot on the corner of Europa and Asia streets next to the hospital that was previously used as a parking lot for the medical staff. The new building will be connected to the hospital’s existing building by a pedestrian bridge.

According to Luis Uzcategui, vice president of operations for Aireko Construction, the shape of the lot posed the biggest challenge in maximizing its limited space and making the structure truly functional. Nevertheless, it allowed the construction of the structure in phases, meaning certain services could be rendered without having to wait for the completion of the entire structure.

Design of the building is by local firm Fernando Irizarry Architects, while PG Engineering Solutions President Carlos Pesquera, a former Transportation & Public Works secretary, is the project’s inspector. Westernbank is providing the construction financing for the project.

Uzcategui said the fast pace of construction is due in large part to the cooperation and commitment by state and municipal agencies and Aireko Construction’s 125-worker team at the site.