The city's spending board voted Wednesday to approve $500,000 for a major expansion of the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and waived air rights over a portion of the street to accommodate a new cantilevered building.
Work has begun on the $160 million expansion of the hospital, which will include a new six-story building with 50 intensive- and intermediate-care beds, 10 operating rooms and a center to train health professionals to deal with traumatic injuries.
The building will be capped by a new helipad, on which the Maryland State Police helicopters that transport critically injured patients can land.
A new main entrance will be constructed in the 600 block of W. Lombard St. and a new ambulance driveway will be on Penn Street.
A corner of the building will jut 24 feet over Penn Street, extending into the city's air rights. The city is donating those, which officials say are worth more than $200,000, to the hospital.
The city will pay its contribution with funds from the West Side Revitalization Project, said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's quasi-public economic development arm.
The surrounding counties pledged an annual contribution of $200,000 or more to the project for four years, which began in 2009.
julie.scharper@baltsun.com
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