Photo courtesy of MaineHealth
The new $378 million facility, which will primarily serve cardiac and cardiovascular patients, is the final piece of the medical center’s multi-year expansion and modernization effort to enhance patient access to hospital-based care, create more private rooms and help facilitate better patient outcomes.
With its construction recently completed, Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland is scheduled to begin admitting patients June 9 to its new 300,000-sq.-ft. Malone Family Tower, located on Congress Street.
The new $378 million facility, which will primarily serve cardiac and cardiovascular patients, is the final piece of the medical center's multi-year expansion and modernization effort to enhance patient access to hospital-based care, create more private rooms and help facilitate better patient outcomes.
At eight stories tall, the Malone Family Tower increases MMC's capacity to care for patients and represents a significant modernization of its facilities. The building includes 96 private patient rooms, 10 operating rooms, nine procedure rooms, and 40 pre- and post-procedure beds.
Sitting atop the tower will be a new 20,000-sq.-ft. sterile processing department (SPD) that will serve all of the operating and procedure rooms at MMC. The building also features ample space for patients and visitors as well as multi-disciplinary collaboration and learning for care team members.
The Malone Family Tower's glass exterior is designed to bring in natural light and transform a major gateway into the city of Portland.
Visitors to the facility will be able to drive up and drop off patients before directly accessing MMC's patient and visitor garage on Congress Street; valet parking also will be available at the tower's entrance. In addition, the Congress Street entrance will supplement the hospital's main entrance on Bramhall Street.
"The Malone Family Tower is a much-needed investment in our patients, our care team, and our entire region," explained MaineHealth Southern Region President Britt Crewse. "Without a doubt, the modern clinical care space in this facility will improve our ability to serve our state's most acutely ill patients with the highest-quality care."
It also was developed to meet a growing need for cardiac and cardiovascular care in the region with flexible spaces that promote collaboration and innovation among members of MMC's nationally recognized cardiovascular care team. By adding 32 intensive care unit (ICU)-level beds to the hospital, MMC's total number of ICU beds will increase to more than 100.
"[The hospital's] cardiovascular team provides extraordinary care, and with the Malone Family Tower we have a facility that matches that high bar," said Joel Botler, MaineHealth Southern Region's chief medical officer. "Today, we cannot serve all of the patients who require this type of care at Maine Medical Center. This tower allows us to [do so] both today and for tomorrow."
MMC performs the most cardiac and cardiovascular procedures in Maine, including more than 1,200 open heart surgeries, approximately 5,000 catheter-based procedures and about 600 ablations a year.
Hospital's Modernization Effort Began in 2018
The Malone Family Tower was created with sustainability in mind, according to a news release from MMC. The facility is designed to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certified and its construction materials are recycled whenever possible. The tower also has a "green roof" to reduce water runoff, minimize any "heat island" effect, and offer a calming space for patients and care team members.
Additionally, the tower provides a much-needed enhancement to MMC's campus infrastructure, which was built out over several decades. The new building was completed on time and on budget, despite facing numerous construction challenges during the pandemic and a period of significant inflation. Its architects designed it to minimize operating costs by stressing flexibility, utility and efficiency.
"Health care excellence requires strategic, fiscally responsible investment," noted Crewse. "The Malone Family Tower was built with an eye toward Maine's future, in keeping with the MaineHealth vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America. Many people — from city, state and federal officials to clinical experts to construction and trades professionals — kept us on track and we are so grateful to them all."
The completion of the Malone Family Tower marks the end of MMC's expansion and modernization project that began construction in 2018, which also included:
- An expansion of the hospital's patient and visitor parking garage, completed in 2019.
- The addition of two additional floors containing a total of 64 private rooms as well as the Linda and Diana Bean Sisters Heliport atop MMC's Coulombe Family Tower, also finished in 2019.
- The 2020 completion of a new parking garage for the MMC care team.
- A new medical office building opened in 2021 and dedicated to specialty care on MMC's Scarborough campus.
Funding for the multi-million-dollar Malone Family Tower comes from reserves, operating revenues, grants, bonds, and, most importantly, generous donations from the community, the hospital noted.
The tower is named in recognition and appreciation of John and Leslie Malone, whose $25 million donation to The NEXT 150|The Campaign for Maine Medical Center in 2021 was the largest single philanthropic gift in MMC's history.
The Malones joined more than 2,600 benefactors in supporting the capital campaign between 2017 and 2023, which raised $179 million in designated funds to support MMC's mission through facility expansion and modernization, workforce development and innovation and clinical research.
Maine Medical Center, recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2023-2024, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, in addition to northern New England.
Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state's largest medical center, licensed for 700 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. The facility's role as both a community hospital and a referral center require an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center.
As a nonprofit institution, MMC also provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine.
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