When the final steel beam of the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center was raised into the air Nov. 9, even a steady, chilly rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the physicians, administrators, donors and construction workers who gathered on West 165th Street to witness the milestone.

"We hope that Seymour is sensing this wonderful thing that is happening here," said Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, which is the teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University, of the man whose family donated $50 million for the new 142,000 square-foot facility.

The building's façade is scheduled to go up in February. Elevator installation should begin in March, and the building should be completely enclosed by September. The heart center is scheduled to open January 2010.

Alan Schwartz, chief of cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, said the facility will provide an unparalleled level of care, thanks to the generosity of its benefactors. "There is no aspect of what we do that this family has not contributed to," he said.

Schwartz and interim surgeon-in-chief Craig Smith performed bypass surgery on former President Bill Clinton in 2004. Clinton returned to the hospital in April 2006 to celebrate the Milstein Family Heart Center's groundbreaking. "From the simple standpoint of capacity, this place is going to be a wonderful thing," Smith said.

The Milstein Family Heart Center will offer patients expanded access to ambulatory, cardiology and diagnostic services at one location. "It will make the patient experience much more user-friendly," said Robert Kelly, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia's senior vice president and COO.

Joshua Hammann is a writer for Weill Cornell Medical College.