Mercy Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday to commence construction of its new hospital campus on the Fore River. Among those speaking at the event were Bishop Richard J. Malone, Gov. John E. Baldacci, Portland Mayor James I. Cohen and Mercy CEO Eileen Skinner.

Construction will begin soon on a 137,000-square-foot, five-story hospital and a 80,000-square-foot, four-story medical office building. The buildings will be the first phase of a project that eventually will relocate all of Mercy Hospital from State Street to the Fore River. Phase One is scheduled to be complete by late 2008. The entire project is scheduled to be complete by 2012.

In February of 2005 Mercy obtained approval from the state to build a new hospital building on the Fore River site acquired by Mercy in 2002.

The new hospital is central to Mercy’s plans to modernize and improve its delivery of healthcare services. Services moving to the Fore River Campus in the first phase of the project are short-stay surgery, comprehensive outpatient surgery, imaging, obstetrics and gynecology, breast and women’s health, oncology and hematology, physical rehabilitation and laboratory services. A new chapel, the Our Lady of Mercy Chapel, is also part of the first phase. The campus, which will be connected with the Portland Trails System, will include an extensive array of planting and landscaping.

The estimated cost of the first phase of the project is $85 million.