Last Beam Installed at Future Naval Hospital

Atop the skeleton of the base’s Naval Replacement Hospital, stood steel workers Luis Viscarra and Kirsten Kritzer. A crane lifted the structure’s last beam. The duo held on to the 14,000 pounds of steal and installed it with little effort as fellow workers and guests cheered from the ground.

The beam was painted white, signed by those involved in the project, and topped off with an American flag and an evergreen tree — symbolizing the structure’s life ahead of it.

“We have an opportunity to create a place of healing to those who deserve it the most,” said Project Director Carlos Gonzalez  — of Clark Construction/McCarthy Joint Venture — to a crowd at the topping-out ceremony Thursday.

The 500,000 square-foot hospital will replace Camp Pendleton’s current facility, which doesn’t meet the seismic codes required for patient care in Southern California. It is also being built with $394 million dollars in stimulus cash. More than $223 million in contracts have been awarded to small businesses, including $157 million to veteran owned businesses, according to a release from Clark Construction.

The hospital, also a project of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, is being built near the main gate, will have departments that include emergency, primary and specialty care clinics.

Construction workers and their families are spending the money that needs to be spent in the country, said Maj. Gen. Anthony L. Jackson, Commanding General of Marine Corps Installations West

“We needed to kick the American economy in the butt and we still need to,” he said. “It’s actually tax payer money going to the right place at the right time.”

The project is being built ahead of schedule and officials expect it to be completed by January 2014.

Jackson asked those involved with the project to stand and be acknowledged for the work in what he feels confident will be a lasting structure.

“Generations way beyond our current one … will be able to enjoy what is here,” he said. “Every time you drive down Interstate 5, you will be able to see a testimony of your work.”