Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo has unveiled conceptual renderings of its planned new hospital on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Hospital officials met with the City of Buffalo Planning Board today to discuss the project. The 12-story, approximately 400,000 square foot facility will be built at the corner of Ellicott and High Streets, across from the Buffalo General Hospital and across the street from the planned University at Buffalo Medical School. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott of Boston, MA, one of the country's top pediatric healthcare architects, is designing the facility that is expected to open in late-2015.
"This is an exciting time for everyone associated with Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo as we plan for a new, state-of-the-art and free-standing hospital on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus," said Teresa Quattrin, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University at Buffalo and Pediatrician-in-Chief, Chief, Division of Endocrinology-Diabetes, Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo. "Of course, we have a beautiful new building to look forward to, but also and more importantly, one that will deliver the best possible care available for women and children throughout Western New York and beyond."
The hospital's Physician Strategic Planning Committee, which Dr. Quattrin chairs, and the team at Shepley Bulfinch, have been working diligently over the past few months to vet clinical planning, program design, building massing and access issues. Along with the physician committee, twenty six user groups have held over 150 planning meetings for the project, all unified in the goal of producing a plan for new ambulatory space and a new hospital.
"We are so pleased to be working with the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo," said Uma Ramanathan, AIA, Shepley Bulfinch's principal for the project. "With this physician-led project, we will be helping transform the delivery of pediatric healthcare for future generations of children in Buffalo."
The City of Buffalo Planning Board has adopted a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the hospital. At the May board meeting, the Board also discussed initial building massing, floor plates and hospital access for the new building. Official site plan approval for the inpatient tower project is the next milestone to reach. The exterior color scheme and building height could still change.
In the coming weeks, the hospital will officially submit its Certificate of Need (CON) with the New York State Department of Health. The CON process is the state regulatory process that governs among other things, construction and renovation of health care facilities; much like the plan for a new Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo Hospital.Hospital officials continue to meet with dozens of neighbors, business leaders and block clubs during the planning for the new Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo. The hospital and its parent organization, Kaleida Health, are expected to begin the Bryant Street building re-use process later this year.
The hospital will be located on approximately 2.3 acres of the approximately 3.7 acre block surrounded by Ellicott, High, Main, and Goodrich streets. The remainder of the block will be used for the medical office building proposed by Ciminelli Development. Construction on the office building is expected to begin in August.
Do the blimp and hot air balloons in the renderings imply that there won't be a copter pad associated with this hospital but rather a spot on the roof to tether up?
Little known fact:
The needle on the Empire State building was originally built to dock Zeppelins. So maybe balloon traffic could be the new mode of transportation?
LED ZEPPELIN ROCKS! Dude!
Littler known fact: so was the top of the Rand Building on Lafayette Square.
I'd love to see a life-flight or organ transplant arriving at the roof via hot air balloon!
Deaner rockin' some Buffalo trivia from the ATL, i'll give that a thumbs up.