Excavation Complete at Spaulding Site

Crews have finished excavating the site for the new Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in the Navy Yard and will be ready to start laying steel for the 300,000 square foot structure by the end of this month.

That work will mark the start of a major phase of construction on the site, according to David Burson, senior project manager, who gave the Charlestown Neighborhood Council an update on the project this week. Excavation of the site has been underway for the past year. Crews have removed 175,000 tons of material in the process.

Once the steel is erected, Burson said, crews will begin to install floor slabs on the eight-story building. There will be cranes on site to complete that work, and, because of the nature of laying concrete slabs, work could run as late as midnight some evenings in early February.

"We'll do what we can to try to mitigate any impacts," he said.

When it's completed, the hospital will employ 1,000 full- and part-time staff members and house 132 private patient rooms. It will sit in the shadow of the Tobin Bridge at the edge of the Navy Yard, bordering 16^th Street and 1^st Avenue. It will be a state-of-the-art medical facility, officials say, with LEED certification, energy efficient features and facilities that are open to the community.

The total cost for construction is estimated at $220 million and is expected to be complete by December 2012. At this week's Neighborhood Council meeting, Burson said construction was on schedule.

Before wrapping up his presentation, Burson was asked for an employment update on the project. Local leaders have asked Spaulding to make pledge to create job for Charlestown residents with the project.

"We're bringing in as many residents as possible," he said. "Right now we're at 10 percent Charlestown residents."