Industry Pulse (May 2006)

CHICAGO – Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago recently announced plans for a $750 million, 275-bed replacement hospital at a new location. Plans call for construction of the new hospital in downtown Chicago at a site near Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The provider’s current campus on the city’s north side is slated for sale to developers. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 with completion targeted for 2011.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Silicon Valley provider El Camino Hospital recently received the green light from its board of directors to build a $480 million replacement hospital that would include expanded emergency, heart and cancer services. The provider still needs to clear several legal hurdles before setting a start date for construction. The hospital must resolve a legal challenge to the project by a local attorney and then sell bonds to fund the project.

DETROIT – The Michigan-based Henry Ford Health System recently outlined a five-year, $300 million plan to expand and modernize its flagship facility, Henry Ford Hospital.  The plan includes an addition of 98 beds along with construction of new operating suites, expansion of emergency facilities, renovation of research facilities and an upgrade of information technology systems. The provider expects to launch the first phase of the project in 2006.

LUTZ, Fla. – BayCare Health System recently announced plans for the construction of a new $100 million, 76-bed, 300,000 square foot hospital in Lutz, Fla. Construction is scheduled to start in 2007 with completion targeted for 2009. The project is the largest initiative in a recent $308 million bond issue by the Tampa-area provider. About $58 million of the bond issue is earmarked for renovation and expansion projects at four existing BayCare facilities: Morton Plant North Bay, Mease Countryside, South Florida Baptist and St. Anthony’s Health Care.

SONOMA VALLEY, Calif. – Sonoma Valley residents have the opportunity for a public vote that could determine the fate of the proposed, and embattled, $148 million replacement hospital for the Sonoma Valley Medical Center. Residents are at work filling out mail-in ballots on a bond issue for the project. Results of the vote are expected in May. The provider is seeking to build the new hospital to expand and modernize facilities as well as meet new seismic standards in California.  Plans for the project have encountered stiff resistance from some community groups, with the landowners near the proposed site leading the opposition.

CHARLESTON, S. C. – Roper St. Francis Healthcare of Charleston, S.C., has received Certificate of-Need (CON) approval from state regulators to build a new $123 million, 85-bed hospital  in Mount Pleasant. However, as part of the decision, state officials stipulated that the provider must wait at least two years to break ground on the project. Roper St. Francis officials have indicated that they’ll be ready to build when the waiting period expires and have targeted late 2009 or early 2010 for completion of the project. 

POINCIANA, Fla. – Florida-based Osceola Medical Center is seeking Florida state CON approval to build a community hospital in Poinciana, a town of about 60,000 that currently does not have a full-service medical facility. The provider is seeking to build a hospital with as many as 120 beds. Square footage and financial details for the plan were not available.

WASHINGTON – Howard University’s plans to build a $400 million replacement hospital near RFK Stadium received a setback recently when the city’s mayor pulled back his support for the project. In recent months, city and university officials had been working on a plan to build the hospital as a joint venture managed by a non-profit group. The idea has encountered opposition within the city’s governing council.

Also In the Works

LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport Foundation received approval from LSU to build a new 61-bed children’s hospital connected to the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, La…. Parkview Health purchased 42 acres in Whitley County, Ind., northwest of Fort Wayne, for the future construction of a replacement for its 37-bed Whitley County Memorial Hospital. The purchase price was not disclosed. No timeline or budget were announced, although local media reports say construction could cost $30 million. Construction could begin by 2008 with completion by 2011… Boni Enterprises of Clifton Park, N.Y., which originally planned to develop an MOB in Halfmoon, N.Y., has revised those plans in favolr of building a 120-bed hospital costing at least $50 million. Company officials say plans evolved during the past year as they studied healthcare demand in New York’s fast-growing southern Saratoga County… Christus Health Gulf Coast recently announced that it has postponed plans for a 100-bed hospital and 80,000 square foot medical office building in Sienna Plantation, Tex., in order to review changes in the regional medical market. q