SAN DIEGO, CA — McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (McCarthy), in partnership with Scripps Health and HGA Architects, recently completed construction of the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla North Tower — a 420,000-square-foot, eight-floor acute care tower designed to meet the region’s growing demand for health care.
The new tower is directly connected to the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, completed by McCarthy in 2014, and reflects more than a decade of partnership between Scripps Health and the construction team. The new facility includes 188 inpatient beds, a rooftop helistop, nine operating rooms, three interventional radiology suites, and expanded imaging and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) services. Labor and delivery, postpartum, and NICU units recently transitioned staff to the new facility, establishing the North Tower as a destination for mother and infant care in the region.
McCarthy provided general contracting services for the North Tower throughout the 52-month project duration. A key factor in their ability to meet the aggressive timeline included their self-perform contributions for the concrete, underground utility work, and mapping scopes of work. The company also oversaw upgrades to the existing Central Energy Plant — installing two new generators, three chillers, additional cooling towers, and other essential systems to support the expanded hospital capacity.
“This project represents the culmination of more than 15 years of collaborative work on this campus,” said Chris Delgado, Project Director at McCarthy. “We’re incredibly proud to have helped deliver a facility of this caliber — one that not only enhances patient care but also reflects the strength of the relationship we’ve built with Scripps over the years.”
The North Tower was constructed using a bolted side plate structural steel system — a unique approach that significantly reduced welding time and labor demands, the first of its kind to be active in construction for the California Department of Health Care Access and Information. Its exterior features precast paneling, improving efficiency and reducing the building enclosure timeline. The facility also incorporates operational improvements for streamlined patient and staff movement.
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Despite being built during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, McCarthy and its partners remained committed to safety, cost efficiency, and collaboration. This included advanced planning to mitigate procurement delays and real-time coordination with hospital staff to accommodate ongoing patient care, while more than 100 McCarthy employees and 500 trade partners contributed to the success of the project.
The completion of the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla North Tower represents an investment in the future of health care for the San Diego region. With a total construction cost of $664 million, the new tower delivers patient-centered care through long-term infrastructure planning. To mark the occasion, project partners recently gathered on campus for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating this milestone.
