Nine months after breaking ground in Downtown Los Angeles, steel beams are now rising at the $215-million expansion of California Hospital Medical Center.  

The project, located at 1401 S. Grand Avenue, is being built by the hospital's owner Dignity Health.  Plans call for a four-story, 150,000-square-foot patient tower which serve the hospital's emergency, trauma and maternity departments and a 749-car garage lined with ground-floor retail.  

The expansion, designed by The Devenney Group, is on pace for completion in 2021, with occupancy to begin in 2021.

At the time of the project's groundbreaking, California Hospital Medical Center was advertised as the busiest private trauma center in Los Angeles, serving over 81,000 patients annually in a facility designed for 55,000.  The new patient tower is being built to accommodate future growth, with only shell space on its top floor.