New second tower on the way up at Scripps La Jolla hospital A rendering depicts the new second medical tower now under construction at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. (Courtesy) Print For months, workers have been pouring a new foundation on a triangular piece of ground on the northern edge of the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus. Cement trucks are delivering the beginnings of a $664 million, seven-story medical tower that will mirror an adjacent and nearly identical V-shaped structure that opened in 2015 and houses the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute on Genesee Avenue just east of Interstate 5. An official groundbreaking ceremony was set for Thursday, April 22. “We started construction during the height of COVID and we couldn’t do a ceremony then, so it’s a little after the fact, but it’s still exciting,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps’ chief executive officer.