Photos: Groundbreaking for Medical Facility

Dr. Hani Sami, M.D. and the Sierra Madre Community Medical Group officially broke ground Thursday afternoon for a new 7,000 square foot addition to their practice. About 50 supporters were in attendance for drinks, dessert and socializing.

Dr. Sami said the new facility will be a state-of-the-art space for medicine, specializing in family care, women's health and pediatrics. He also noted that it will be sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Norberto Nardi, the architect who designed the new facility, described it as "provocative," but in an appealing way. While drawing up the blueprints, Nardi was careful to protect and not overwhelm the practice's existing single-story stone building at 147 W Sierra Madre Blvd.

"We decided to create a new building that works essentially as a backdrop," said Nardi. The new building is actually masked behind a sustainable screen that does indeed look like a backdrop (you can see a rendering of the new building on the right). 

Three members of the City Council were on hand, including Mayor Pro Tem Josh Moran.

"This is one of those rare projects where we as a city, and the city council, listened to the groundswell of support from the public for this project and it was with very light hearts that we were able to give some of our soon to be gone [Community Redevelopment Agency] monies to help...offset some of the fees involved in building this building," said Moran.

Construction is expected to begin within the next 24 to 48 hours.