Beth Israel West Campus Inpatient Building | 111 Francis St | Longwood

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statler

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The Globe said:
Beth Israel plans $1b in growth, upgrades
Raft of proposals reflects increased patient volume, marks dramatic rebound by hospital in past 4 years

By Jeffrey Krasner, Globe Staff | July 27, 2007

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday said it will spend $1 billion over the next 15 years to build a suburban clinic, replace buildings at its cramped Longwood campus, upgrade facilities, and add hospital beds.

The plan reflects the Harvard University teaching hospital's need to handle growing patient volume, update older buildings, and accommodate new technology and improved patient-care standards. It marks a dramatic turnaround from just four years ago, when Beth Israel Deaconess was selling off buildings in the Longwood Medical Area to raise cash.

"This place is growing," said Eric Buehrens, the hospital's chief operating officer. "Volume is up. Our financial performance reflects that patients are coming to us in increasing numbers. When we make projections into the future, we see we need to grow our physical plant."

Inpatient volume has grown modestly over recent years, from 37,221 patients in fiscal year 2002 to 39,023 in fiscal year 2006. "Observation" cases, in which a patient is kept overnight for testing but not formally admitted, increased more rapidly. And clinical treatments of patients who are not admitted grew dramatically from 282,261 in fiscal year 2002 to 451,033 in fiscal year 2006.

Beth Israel Deaconess recently briefed the Boston Redevelopment Authority on its intentions, but said the current plans are only a general outline. Specific building projects are yet to be determined, the hospital said.

"Our goal is to maximize the limited space available on our campus to create a more rational and convenient medical center for our patients," said Paul Levy, the hospital's chief executive, in a statement. "We intend to be a model for how care is organized, both physically and clinically."

"I'm happy to see that Beth Israel is keeping up its commitment to sharing their long-term strategy with the city and studying best practices for smart growth on their campus," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino in a statement.

The first step will likely be a new suburban clinic for patients who don't need to stay overnight. Beth Israel Deaconess has discussed building such a clinic in a joint venture with New England Baptist Hospital. Officials said the location and ownership of the clinic have not been decided. But the clinic will be separate from a planned modest expansion of Beth Israel Deaconess/Needham.

Many of Boston's academic teaching hospitals are moving more services to the suburbs to accommodate patients outside of Boston and reduce congestion at their city campuses.

"All the institutions here have looked at this problem of congestion and have tried to figure out how to handle it responsibly," said Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd, chief executive of the Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization, a planning group for the Longwood Medical Area.

Buehrens said Beth Israel Deaconess will hire a consultant to create a detailed scheme for the suburban clinic within a year.

Other changes outlined by Beth Israel Deaconess include:

Expansion of the West Clinical Center on Deaconess Road and razing of the Libby and Deaconess buildings on Pilgrim Road to make room for a new tower.

Relocating the maternity department from the East to West campus.

Concentrating outpatient care, administration, and research in the East Campus on Brookline Avenue.

Adding operating rooms, 130 beds, and more capacity for high-tech imaging.

Despite its suburban expansion, Beth Israel Deaconess's plans at its Boston campus will continue to put more pressure on the Longwood Medical Area. Joslin Diabetes Center last week said it has selected a developer to build a massive research tower at the corner of Longwood and Brookline avenues, adjacent to Beth Israel's East Campus.

Swartz-Lloyd said the area employs the equivalent of 40,000 full-time workers and adds about 1,000 full-time jobs a year.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Longwood campuses include about 2.1 million square feet of space. The expansion plan would add about 700,000 square feet for patient care. Separately, the hospital will also be a major tenant in the Center for Life Sciences, a privately developed laboratory building in the Longwood area.

When it was financially strapped a few years ago, Beth Israel Deaconess was shedding real estate. In 2001, it sold 21 Autumn St. to Children's Hospital Boston for $5.4 million. The following year, it sold what was then called the Libby Building to Emmanuel College, for use as a dormitory, for $14.75 million. And in 2003, it sold 1 Autumn St. to Children's Hospital for $28 million.

Those sales make the medical center's expansion plans more important and tougher to execute because it has fewer options on its own land.

Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.
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Journalism school

So, a good reporter (and/or editor) when he proofread the article would see where he says this:

Expansion of the West Clinical Center on Deaconess Road and razing of the Libby and Deaconess buildings on Pilgrim Road to make room for a new tower.
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And then where he says this:

When it was financially strapped a few years ago, [when] Beth Israel Deaconess was shedding real estate ... it sold what was then called the Libby Building to Emmanuel College, for use as a dormitory, for $14.75 million ...
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And then realize the two sentences seem to contradict each other.

"How can Beth Israel raze the Libby building if they sold it, four years ago???"

We'll never know.

Somewhere, a Columbia journalism professor weeps.
 
^^ I'm guessing that they intentionally used to the phrase "what was then called the Libby Building" to connote that that name Libby was then transfered to a new building (which is now being razed).

I'll admit, it could have been written more clearly, but in an effort to economize words it got obfuscated.
 
Hey Ron, would you oppose locating the Deaconess suburban clinic at the old New England Memorial/BRMC site?
 
No, why would I oppose that? Replacing one medical use with another.
 
Re: Beth Israel plans $1b in growth, upgrades

12345 said:
Beth Israel plans new 10-story clinical building in Boston





https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...plans-new-10-story-clinical-building.amp.html
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I'm impressed at your digging skills - I think I would have just started a new thread :)

For those without BBJ access:

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...srael_plans_new_patient_care_site_at_longwood

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...L16LSoBCMpcDMaStsRZO/story.html?event=event12
 
Re: Beth Israel plans $1b in growth, upgrades

I'm impressed at your digging skills - I think I would have just started a new thread
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I thought about it, but the search was only 2 pages.
 
Re: Beth Israel plans $1b in growth, upgrades

The Herald has more (with no paywall).

Boston Globe said:
The emergency room parking lot where the building would be sited is bound by Pilgrim Road, Francis Street, Brookline Avenue and BIDMC’s Rosenberg Building, according to a letter of intent filed with the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
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So, here's the site.
 
It’s a great project because without even looking at the detailed plans it means they’re finally expanding their ED which is much needed. It also will likely release some pressure on some of the older clinical buildings for renovation and further new construction.

My major worry - it’s really easier (and better) to have a surface drop off for any emergency department, and what it looks like they’re doing is a shallower version of what Brigham does... having a small pull off on Francis Street. Only problem is, Francis between Pilgrim and Brookline is a much narrower street... Unless they have plans for more car accommodation (like a deeper overhang), this is going to be a disaster - that segment of Francis Street is already truly gridlocked between 4-6pm and this is going to basically make it much harder for cars and ambulances to get to the ED. Hopefully, they conduct some thoughtful traffic circulation studies on this.
 
FK4 said:
It’s a great project because without even looking at the detailed plans it means they’re finally expanding their ED which is much needed. It also will likely release some pressure on some of the older clinical buildings for renovation and further new construction.

My major worry - it’s really easier (and better) to have a surface drop off for any emergency department, and what it looks like they’re doing is a shallower version of what Brigham does... having a small pull off on Francis Street. Only problem is, Francis between Pilgrim and Brookline is a much narrower street... Unless they have plans for more car accommodation (like a deeper overhang), this is going to be a disaster - that segment of Francis Street is already truly gridlocked between 4-6pm and this is going to basically make it much harder for cars and ambulances to get to the ED. Hopefully, they conduct some thoughtful traffic circulation studies on this.
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Agreed. Traffic is a huge part of this. They've got a blank wall with a garage door on the Brookline Avenue elevation. Another street that is really stressed with traffic. And a blank facade on a major street is cringe worthy. The upper portion is nice enough but getting the street level to work here is going to be tricky (as usual in Boston).
 
They should build a foundation and structure to accommodate the addition of a few or 8 more floors down the road (14 or 6 years from now).

What is this; Kansas City?
 
odurandina said:
They should build a foundation and structure to accommodate the addition of a few or 8 more floors down the road (14 or 6 years from now).

What is this; Kansas City?
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OMFG. You don't know shit about hospital construction, how difficult it is to stack care that high (things like elevators and having enough of them for patients, visitors, and also emergencies make this very difficult) nor do you know shit about Kansas City (don't bother replying with some listing of the heights of the buildings in KC to attempt to show this was merely an intellectual distinction; your northeast arrogance and snobbery toward some place you've probably never been [and based on what??? You're not even a Bostonian]) and your willful ignorance is, as usual, exposed. Like when the two-year-old makes a scene, I usually just ignore your posts and refrain from bothering to respond, as most of us do. But for fuck's sake, can't you at least make some attempt to pull your head at least halfway out your ass just once in a while?
 
1. we should make every effort to conserve land for future medical campus use by building tall sooner not later. or propose tall first...
2. better idea; bulldoze more of the surrounding neighborhood in the next few years.
3. mixed use, medical offices, etc
4. there was a 29 story tower proposed at 1 Joslin Place a few years ago (crazy i know).

some tall hospital bldgs in the US;
# building height/ meters
1. Outpatient Center, Houston Methodist Hospital 156.05m
2. O'Quinn Medical Tower at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center (TMC) 145.3m
3. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago 134.0m
4. Northwestern Memorial Hospital Galter PavilioChicago 123.0m

top 20 if it had been built? 1 Joslin Place, Longwood Medical Campus 29 stories 98~110m ?

i believe there's no place to go but up (crazy i know).
 
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thanks. i assumed it was some combination of

1. neighbors, neighbors, neighbors
2. Great Recession
3. traffic study
 
odurandina said:
1. not sure if serious.
2. we should make every effort to conserve land for future medical campus use by building tall sooner not later. or propose tall first...
.
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So now you think have a better handle on BI's long term needs than the team of executives, architects and planners who've been working on this project behind the scenes for probably upwards of five years? Any other areas of expertise we should know about, besides creating lists and stroking your noodle to every building you see taller than a utility pole?
 
odurandina said:
5. there was a 29 story tower proposed at 1 Joslin Place a few years ago (crazy i know).
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The 29-story component of Joslin Center was residential. The Joslin Clinic was hoping to finance additional research space in a 7-10 story podium with an apartment tower that they intended to lease for 99 years to Harvard Medical School. The Windsor School was influential blocking the proposal, and then the bottom fell out of the economy.

Fast-forward a few years: Joslin sold its permitted site to a private developer who rebranded the project Longwood Center. DFCI, my former employer, is the anchor tenant.

The residential capacity needed by a growing HMS is housed at Trilogy and Mosaic.
 
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