Seton Medical Center celebrates groundbreaking for $60M modernization

in Community

Seton Medical Center’s new owners celebrated a groundbreaking Friday for a $60 million modernization project that will seismically retrofit the Daly City hospital and pay for other deferred maintenance, according to the San Francisco Business Times. Swinterton is the project’s general contractor and SmithGroup is the architect, the Times reported.

The mandatory seismic work increases Alhambra Hospital Medical Center Healthcare Inc.’s (AMCH) investment into the hospital to $160 million in less than a year. The “safety-net” facility, which went bankrupt before AMCH rescued it last year from closure, provides critical care for community members in northern San Mateo and San Francisco, including low-income patients, and is Daly City’s largest employer.

“We are here to stay and are truly committed to Seton and the community that it serves,” Dr. Kenneth Smith, a member of AMCH’s board, told the Times, adding, “This hospital is vital because without it is a health care desert, as there are few nearby alternatives for our community.”

AMCH purchased Seton Medical Center along with the Seton Coastside skilled nursing facility in Moss Beach for $40 million. The sale required that the 357-bed hospital remain open to serve extremely-low income residents for five-and-a-half years. AHMC told the Times it plans to ensure Seton’s operations are “longstanding.”

For more details, read the Business Times’ full report here.

Photo from the groundbreaking ceremony.