CHARLESTON (AP) - The Medical University of South Carolina is in the midst of building the most expensive hospital project in state history. About 500 workers are building the almost $400 million Ashley River Tower, which is the first phase of a more than $1 billion medical complex. The building will be a seven-story tower with patient beds and a four-story center for diagnosis and medical operations. It should be completed by next year. The complex can handle winds to 220 miles per hour and move as much as 16 inches in an earthquake. It includes private hallways so patients being wheeled to operating rooms aren't exposed to the public and infections. The new building is part of a plan to expand MUSC's new hospital in phases and eventually replace the existing MUSC Medical Center a few blocks away, originally built in the 1950s.
10/13/2007 10:11:16 PM
