The neighbors have been giving serious pushback to anything else being built on the hill. They are rich and have access to the better lawyers, so no point in trying. That's why the focus is now down on Congress Street and they have been buying up other properties (the old bus terminal). Eventually, they will probably build all the way to the massive new employee parking garage to connect to that. The next 20-30 years look GREAT for business with the aging and morbidly obese population. And if we don't fix the American diet soon, we will need another hospital--probably in Westbrook. Mercy is mismanaged and will never be a viable competitor. Rock Row medical campus is close to filled with its 200,000 square feet and planning to add another 200,000. Maybe a hospital next to this facility. We need more competition. The PPH had a story last year on the high cost of procedures at Maine Medical and that some Mainers are driving to Boston to have them done at MGH because its cheaper! MGH is in midst of building a 1.7 million square foot addition. It's far more beastly than MaineHealth (though if you add up all the outpatient, etc. facilities around Portland it's not far behind). Cancer treatments and cardiac care seem to be the primary focus now and the big money needed for the everpresent new technologies has to be passed on to the consumer. En masse, eat a much better diet and exercise is the only thing we can do to bring this "growth" down. Being America's top foodie city has been an interesting irony.
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