By Lauren McSherry

The Mountain View City Council gave the go-ahead Nov. 23 to Palo Alto Medical Foundation, approving the foundation’s plans to build a 250,000-square-foot medical facility on the site of the former Emporium department store, which has sat vacant for approximately nine years.

The foundation will relocate its Camino Medical Group offices in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Los Altos to the site, consolidating all staff on one main campus.

The $153 million project is expected to generate about 9,033 car trips per day, according to the draft environmental impact report.

The 9.66-acre property will contain 1,100 parking spaces and a three-story medical facility that will house 100 physicians and 310 nurses, staff and technicians. It is estimated that 1,650 patients will visit the facility each day. The campus will contain a health education center, cancer care center and surgical care center as well as an imaging center for X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans.

In 1995, Home Depot acquired the property and proposed building a 100,000-square-foot store. Neighborhood residents voiced opposition to the proposed big-box store and the truck traffic it would create, and in March 2002, the council voted by a two-to-one margin to overturn the home-improvement retail giant’s plans.

The Emporium is slated for demolition in January. Construction will begin in July, and the medical facility is expected to be completed by the end of April 2007.

The property is bounded by El Camino Real, The Americana, Continental Circle and Highway 85.