Buffalo Rising Online

"Remember when it looked like the hospital might move to the Medical Campus? Now the operation needs to expand in order to relieve its growing pains."

Perhaps the most salient point in the article. However, that mega-surface lot is a bummer. I wonder if they considered adding onto the ramp. Maybe it's not designed for that though. Glad to see that the corner lot on Elmwood will be available for development. The corner lots are the most important for a city block. All in all I think this is good news for the city and the nieghborhood. Let the "Save the vacant houses" and architectural critique begin.

2 questions:

How will people parking at the mega-lot on W.Utica get to the main hospital buildings? Is there a connection from the lot to the garage? or another access walkway to Hodge?

Also, would the new Front Facade planned for the old campus site face towards Bryant or towards Hodge?

It'll be interesting to see how this expansion goes.. and the input from the memberes of our community who ignored the idea of a move/merge.. can't imagine a hospital swallowing a community going over well with its members.

I'll bet Stavros makes a bid to grab a chunk of that corner lot to expand Nektar's parking lot a bit... it could use about 10 more spots... especially on a busy weekend night.

I have a feeling that the new facade will face neither but their new handy-dandy turn about. also the new building looks really nice. I think it is good for the neighborhood and the hospital.

Too bad the new build couldn't go on the footprint of the old campus....so be it.

Ditch the 'green space' along Utica and one row of parking to put up some townhomes. Otherwise- a necessary and decent project. Great news about potentially selling the Bryant/Elmwood lot.

A real commitment in writing to sell that lot for an enhancement to Elmwood Ave would go a long way with the community . That parking lot phot is ghastly. Considerate landscaping can make much of the rest palatable.

Look at the gaping holes in the residential community. Is someone going to tell me that this is good for the neighboring residential community? I dont think so!!!!

Childrens hospital is treated like its neighborhood hospital specific to the Elmwood Ave residents but it is supposed to serve the entire city's children and should be centrally located at the medical campus in the Fuit Belt or they could have colocated at Millard Fillmore can probably kept that hospital open.

Now millard fillmore is closing and we see the gaping wholes in the residential community as this hospital that should not be expands.

This isnt a gain for Buffalo, its not even a loss....its a rtavesty

What the area needs is some type of housing - small hotel - where parents can stay while their children are being treated.

Sally = typical Cheektowagian

Steel = typical city dweller who thinks anyone living in the suburbs isn't allowed to have an opinion about what goes on within city limits. Why should your opinion matter more then anyone else here? You don't even live in the state let alone the city. That's far worse then living in the dreaded suburbs... no matter how you try to spin it.

Moving on...

I think it's an attractive building and the neighborhood around the hospital, although very nice, could still use a facelift with a brand new hospital section that doesn't look like a giant box of concrete and windows. I can understand why they opted for the regular parking lot and not a ramp. With an underground ramp, you would need to do a lot of blasting away of rock and since this is a densely packed residental neighborhood, that would not even be on the table. With an aboveground ramp, even though development companies can make the ramps look presentable, they're still ramps and tend to stick out due to their height. The current one there sticks out already. They don't need two. With a level parking lot, you can at least surround it well enough with vegitation that it can be hidden from the street .

The hospital should be in the medical corridor for so many reasons. Their religious devotion to parking has been a continual migraine for the neighborhood

"Remember when it looked like the hospital might move to the Medical Campus? Now the operation needs to expand in order to relieve its growing pains."

That sounds nice, but it completely distorts the history of the proposed move to the Medical Campus. The same conditions existed at the time of the proposal, Kaleida big wigs thought that it was a better investment to move the hospital then expand at the current site given the outdated facilities, and lack of space. It was the multi million dollar pledge by the state, and political pressure from residents that put Kaleida in the position to keep Children's on Bryant and expand there.

As stated, it makes it sound as if Children's has seen an explosion in the patients served and the services provided, that is just plain wrong.

Strategically_located,

When have I ever said someone living in the suburbs is not allowed to have an opinion about the city? When have I ever said that ever? When have I ever said my opinion matters more? Odd that you should end your rant toward me saying I don't have a right to an opinion on here because of where I live.

My understanding is that the number of "live births" each year in Buffalo Niagara is continually dropping, as would be expected with a declining populations. Thus, the demand for a "stand alone" Women and Children's Hospital is also dropping. Why on earth should a declining institution be able to increase its footprint in the middle of an urban neighborhood so significantly, while hugely reducing their own density. This is EXTREMELY irresponsible growth. Why does a hospital like this get a free pass in so many eyes, when, if this were a private institution, and the actually circumstances were all considered, this would never be allowed to move ahead. Of course, what politician would ever go on record as "hurting the children!." Move it to the medical campus, there will be better, more comprehensive care there, and this land will be snatched up in no time.

I really have to respond to some of the posts here. Having lived in Children's hospital for three months (my daughter was born with some birth defects) I am pretty familiar with these issues. First, it's too bad that the hospital didn't move to the suburbs or the Medical Campus when it had the chance--it's not the most accessible location(Hodge and Bryant are side streets, nothing more), but we found we did like easy access to Elmwood restaurants. Secondly, we have to realize that Children's is not just for the city or even the traditional metro Buffalo. It serves an enormous region that goes as far south as Bradford, PA and as far east as Wellsville, NY. That's a huge area and the area needs a great hosptial for critical care. Thirdly about parking--right now employees use a lot of street parking because there is not enough parking on the hosptial lots or at the city garage (it's always full on surgery days in the morning). A new surface parking lot would probably serve employees and move a lot of vehicles off the streets. With a new walkway to the hospital from (currently you have to walk through the elements from the garage to get to the hospital--try doing that with a sick infant in February), it will be nice to finally be covered from Car to the Registration desk. Fourth, it actually is the case that Children's is experiencing a huge influx of patients and they are running out of room. Births are up, surgery, Neo-Natal ICU, Pediatric ICU are full on a regular basis--just ask a nurse who works in one of those departments--they are constantly hiring. As hospitals in our area continue to consolidate services, a specialty hospital like Children's is needed to meet care needs that other hospitals are cutting. Lastly, Buffalo Children's needs this update--it's pretty old. After Visiting Golisano Childrens at Strong Hospital in Rochester, the difference is amazing. Tons of parking, amenities, room for the continous expansion that happens there and everything brand new--it's like the difference between the Aud and the HSBC arena. Getting this done would be a big step forward for the Hospital. I don't know who it was that insisted that the hospital should stay where it is back when a move was considered, but it needs to change and update at its current location, otherwise it will become obsolete (major portions of it already are). This Hospital will continue to grow as pediatric care grows and becomes more specialized. My daughter has six different doctors at the hospital complex and there are many like us. I hope that this can happen--I dislike the idea of fragmenting services.

I've always found that city ramp to be nicely hidden.

To play off of Steel's suggestion......extend the ramp out the back using the back half of the surface lot. This looks like it could use the exising up/down ramps inside and just form loops on each floor.

Use the front half of the surface lot plot for an apartment building/townhomes etc. to hide the garage, reconnect the streetscape on Utica and give some new build options to people looking to live down there.

More spaces and more people and conitnous streetscape. Would seem like a win all around to me.

So Children's must have "tons of parking" at the cost of residential stability and ambiance? at the cost of the people who live around it and keep their homes and have to deal with the continual noise (helicopter), trash, and loitering that surrounds the hospital? Why should the neighborhood continually sacrifice houses and land to the hospital? It's a bad location, and there are other plans they could consider but won't. Let the hospital spend the money to shuttle visitors, let them build on their existing footprint, but don't let them make an urban neighborhood an oasis of parking.

Maybe the hospital should expand west, the Peace Bridge east, and they can meet somewhere around 14th Street.

^^^Eric Oak. I agree with you. It doesn't matter where Children's is as long as they have state of the art facilities. The location stinks--it should be in the burbs somwhere off of I-90. However, if Children's trie d to move again I bet there'd be more controversy than this this plan is generating. There is no political will to do this. Good hospitals are in a constant state of change. I would imagine that a surface parking lot would be changed again once the next capital project happens. I don't think the residents of this neighborhood will win this one. Since the location of this hospital will not change, this project needs to happen.

"Of course the hospital will be built. Every hospital has this looming inevitability about expansion and growth..hospital administrators are like college presidents: all that courses through their minds these days is the next big expansion, the next capital campaign."

Thats not true....go over to the female minority incompetent patronage appointment over at Buffalo State. President Howard is turning away 10,000 applicants per year and has no plan for expansion or capital growth or expansion of programs or partnerships with other colleges and businesses. Thats what you get when you hire a patronage minority over a qualified employee that isnt protected by quota and affirmative action.

Again I think we focus on win-lose or lose-win vs. win-win

This can de done right to add parking, fill in streetscapes, update the hosiptal, create new living accomotations/buisness etc.

An integrated neighborhood is a healthy urban neighborhood. The residents should show WCH that they are respected and wanted, but here is what we would like to see where we can all reach our goals for the neighborhood. Telling someone they are not wanted is not a good way to get them to consider your feelings or interests. Or telling them that that can't have what they feel they need to flourish. There are more than way to meet goals for those invested in those blocks.

This is a lot of change and doesn't come around often. Break the mold, accept that each entity makes the other more desireable and work together to meet them and make something special out of it. It would be nice to see the council person or what ever local leaders acting as the person to bridge the interested parties together.

eric oak has it right, it is a bad location and the Hospital already is a bad neighbor. in any event, I am resided to the fact that the hospital will stay, and, in fact, the Hospital keeps saying that they would like to be here for another 100 years. So, if that's the case, why build on the cheap? the hospital's own study of the controversial helipad recommended that the preferred & safest location was on top of the tallest structure. but, that option would have cost roughly $1 million more than the selcted current helipad site. Over a 100 year period, little old me thinks that would have been a small price to pay for a safer (and, yes, less noisy) helipad site. now it appears the hospital again is doing things on the cheap. could they build their new outpatient clinic on the current campus in-print? yes, of course. would that be more disruptive and costly, yes, of course also -- but when looked at over a period of 100 years, it makes sense to do it right. the current plan is parking centric and calls for the demolition of four perfectly good houses on a residential street (Hodge). no offense to my friends on Utica, but, if this plan goes through, Hodge will become another Utica and the entire neighborhood will suffer. Why didn't the Hospital tell us what the "new" hospital would look like when the debate over it's relocation was going on??