Planning process delays Lucile Packard hospital rebuild - Houston Business Journal:

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CEO Christopher Dawes said delays in winningt entitlements from the city of Palo Alto are likelyu to add at least a year or two toLuciles Packard’s timetable. As a result, its estimated $1 billionh expansion project is likely to becomplete “more in 2015 or 2016, rather than 2014. “Wr have more planning to do, (but) we’re somewhaf at the mercy of the city of Palo Dawes said, indicating he’s hoping to completre the entitlement process within the next few and definitely by year end.
In mid-March, a Palo Alto City Councipl study session lookinginto Stanford’s projects came up with a “wish list of 58 it might ask the university for, accordinf to the San Jose-Silicon Valleuy Business Journal. The list included everything from a newtransity hub, an upstream water-detention basin for San Francisquitl Creek, and 594 housing units to free psychiatric servicex for homeless residents. Some city officials had concerns about the impacts on trafficand housing.
A month later, Stanford ditched plans to enhance its so it could focus on the two hugehospitalk projects, a move that could cost the city million s of dollars in anticipated tax revenus and impact fees from the shopping centert and a planned 120-room hotel. Stevejn Turner, a senior city agreed with Dawes that the entitlement process has taken far longee thananyone anticipated, citing both the need for input from various boards, commissions and the and changes by Stanford, including the need to tweak the environmentalo impact report to eliminate references to the now-defunct shoppingh center expansion, including traffic impacts.
“We were substantially complete with the EIR when the universityu pulled theshopping center” Turner said. Evaluating three overlapping projecty “just got complex,” said City Council member Greg StanfordHospital & Clinics, which alongy with Lucile Packard and Stanford’s School of Medicine makes up , is projectinf that its $2.5 billion expansion and seismicd rebuild project will take until 2015 to two years later than it had hoped. Stanfors Hospital is adding 824,000 square feet of space and 144 beds to itsexistinfg complex, resulting in a largely new 600-bef adult hospital and ER.
Lucile meanwhile, is planning a 520,000-square-foot, 200-bed addition that will add 100 beds net to itscurrentt 260-bed footprint. One hundred current beds will be decommissiones as it turns shared rooms into private That will include making all51 labor-and-delivery rooms private, versus 25 perceng today. The addition will featurre two 100-bed pavilions to be split about 50-50 between medical-surgical and intensive care along with up to seven new operating roomss and additional imaging capabilities andcath labs.
Overall, it mighgt cost less than $1 billion to do the upcominbg work “if we could put the shovel in thegrounds today,” Dawes said, becausse Packard could take advantage of steel and other constructiob costs that have dropped dramatically. “What’a holding us back is the entitlements,” he said. meanwhile, said the city “wants to make the best possiblse decision. We want to get it rightg the first time.
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