After five years of setbacks, construction was scheduled for Temecula’s first hospital.
A groundbreaking ceremony was set for 2:30 p.m. June 20 on a 37-acre empty lot at 31700 Temecula Parkway, Universal Health Services announced last week.
The five-story facility is slated to have 140 beds, six surgical suites, private rooms and a 20-bed intensive care unit, the company announced. It aims to finish the project by summer 2013.
“The new Temecula Valley Hospital is an important milestone in our goal to provide the finest quality healthcare to south Riverside County, so to reach this point is exciting for everyone involved,” stated Marc Miller in the emailed announcement.
Universal Health Services, the corporation building the hospital, has been in the planning phase for more than half a decade.
It submitted its plans in June 2004 and the City Council approved the plan in 2006. Since then, a citizens group and a nurses union sued it for shortcomings in a study of its impact on the local environment. It lost the suit.
The California Department of Public Health cited its facilities in Murrieta and Wildomar for breaking numerous codes and missed a last-chance deadline to start building in October.
It scrapped its plans and started the process over in June.
It filed applications for the current downsized project. The previous plan called for six stories and 170 beds.
To read more about the plans, .
The City Council criticized the company, and accused it of intentionally dragging out the process so they could put up the hospital when the economy gets better while chasing off other hospital companies from building in the area.
The council approved the plans in February on two conditions. First, it must pour the foundations by February, 2012. Second, it must start building the second phase within five years of the first phase’s grand opening.
It also forced the company to post a $5 million bond to ensure it makes its deadline. If it fails, the company forfeits the money.
To read more about the new deal, .
This was a win-win for the city, Mayor Ron Roberts said Saturday at a meeting. If they build it, Temecula gets a hospital. If they forfeit, “We would make $5 million and they would go away,” he said.
