In the early 1970s, Maine Medical Center undertook the construction of a new, multi-story parking garage at the intersection of Congress and Gilman Streets. Building crews spent a year creating the infrastructure to support the new construction, installing pipe and conduits, building roads, even changing the topography of the site. A portion of Bramhall Hill was cut away in order to level a lot on which to erect the new parking garage. The earthmoving created a six-story cliff overlooking Congress Street. MMC’s facilities engineers designed a 200-foot-long, 65-foot-high retaining wall as part of an earth retention system. By 1973, the garage was nearly complete and can be seen in this photo lit at night.

Before the 1960s, there were no parking garages at the hospital and the plateau behind the complex was used for parking. As the hospital expanded, parking in the neighborhood grew increasingly scarce, so the Bramhall Reservoir was leased and then purchased to alleviate parking issues. For Maine Medical Center employees, there was a parking lot on St. John Street. This stood where the old Union Station was located prior to its demolition as part of the national Urban Renewal Project.

In 2007, a helipad was added to the top of the garage to air-lift patients to the hospital, including Army National Guard helicopters. Prior to the installation of the helipad, patients were air transported to the jetport and then moved by ambulance to the hospital, causing a delay in reaching the ER.