Visible construction of John C. Lincoln’s Sonoran Health and Emergency Center is rising on 22 acres south of Sonoran Boulevard near Interstate 17 in North Phoenix. The medical complex remains on target to open in December 2013.

Initially, the $18 million Sonoran Health and Emergency Center will be a 40,000-square-foot facility housing emergency and medical imaging services and breast health with 3-D mammography. It will employ approximately 40 staff members.

The facility cost funds site work, construction, furnishings and medical equipment. The cost does not include a 120-bed hospital that ultimately is planned to be built on the site. The hospital and additional medical office buildings will be developed at a later time determined by developments in the area’s economy and population growth.

John C. Lincoln already has two hospitals under its umbrella: John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital at the Loop 101 and I-17 and John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital on Dunlap in North Central Phoenix. The Health Network also includes the John C. Lincoln Health Center with Urgent Care at Anthem, 27 primary care physician practices including 12 in the North Valley, and the Desert Mission health and human services for the under- and uninsured members of the community.

The medical complex was designed by the Devenny Group, Ltd., and is being built by DPR Construction, according to Sheila Gerry, John C. Lincoln senior vice president, Real Estate and Facilities Development. The Health Network acquired the site in October 2012 from shopping mall developer Macerich and its Westcor division for $5.6 million.

Ground was broken and construction began on the Sonoran Health and Emergency Center during the first week of December 2012. Macerich put in road and water infrastructure to accommodate the medical complex development. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich still owns an adjacent 55 acres in the development along I-17 south of the Carefree Highway.