Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Kaiser Permanente's New Baldwin Hills Outpatient Facility Revealed


From the ashes of blighted Marlton Square rises a new medical office building, courtesy of healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente.  Two years ago, the Oakland-based nonprofit announced plans to construct a new outpatient facility on an 8.6 acre parcel near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Marlton Avenue.  Now, an environmental report just released by LADCP has finally revealed all of the juicy details.  Known by the glamorous title of "Kaiser Permanente Outpatient Medical Facility - Baldwin Hills MOB," the project offers a four-story, 105,000 square foot building, surrounded by surface parking lots and a landscaped central plaza.  The plaza, which will be open to the public, allows for cut-through pedestrian traffic between the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall and the residential neighborhood to the west.

Designed by HOK, the project will utilize a variety of environmentally friendly measures in an effort to obtain either LEED Gold or LEED Platinum Certification.  The outpatient facility will incorporate solar panels in several areas throughout the project site, including its parking lots and the central plaza area.  Most notably, the building will employ a photovoltaic canopy as part of an architectural rooftop feature.  Other exterior materials include include metal panels, perforated metal screens and spandrel glazing.

The new medical offices will rise on a site once occupied by Marlton Square (a.k.a. Santa Barbara Plaza), a long dilapidated shopping complex which was demolished in 2011.  With the new Crenshaw/MLK subway station slated to open one block east in 2019, it appears that Kaiser's timing may be just right.  Per the environmental report, a full buildout of the outpatient facility is anticipated sometime in 2016, following a 16 month construction timeline which should begin later this year.






6 comments:

  1. No one wants to hide parking lots underground. I wonder if anything will be done to reduce the heat radiation from regular asphalt cover. We already have a huge parking lot at Walmart and was hoping this development would have something more interesting to offer.

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  2. The master plan for the site shows additional buildings on those parking lots. Perhaps the long term goal is to build additional facilities on those sites.

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  3. It's about time this long planned effort gets some real traction. At least they have now leveled most of the old dilapidated bldgs.

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  4. Pretty excited about the KaiserP/Marlton Sq. Project. Looking forward to being selected to do a Large -Scale Sculpture for this Project!

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    1. Thank U! It certainly has been an exciting journey for this sculptor who lives close to the KaiserP/Marlton Sq. Project. I have had the pleasure of meeting (2013 with 4 Principles of HOK) attending several City Planning Hearings on the project. Reaching out to stakeholders, showing portfolios of my prototypes. The name of the game is Keep On Pushin! Alicialoygriffin.com

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  5. I guess the construction is yet to begin. We are now in mid November, so the question is WHEN will construction begin? Are there more plans to approve?

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