Hospital rebuilding will bring many jobs

SALEM – The rebuilding of Oregon’s state mental hospital in Salem means welcome work for about 100 regional businesses hammered by the economic downturn, including a brick maker expected to reopen a shuttered plant.

The $280 million project is designed to replace Oregon’s 126-year-old mental hospital, long criticized as obsolete and understaffed.

The new 620-bed hospital, preserving a historic part of the old one, is scheduled to be fully operational in 2011.

Officials of several companies said the project was significant both to them and the region.

“We can’t think of a more important project here, under construction, at this time,” said Mathew Steinbacher, estimating officer for Cherry City Electric.

A big chunk of subcontractor work – $87 million worth – is a result of the state’s decision to renovate part of the J Building, best known as the filming location of the 1975 movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

At the behest of history buffs and building preservationists, the J Building’s oldest and most historically significant sections dating to 1883 will be incorporated into the new hospital.