Article of the Month
Stanford Hospital expansion on track to break ground in 2011
Planning for the long-waited Stanford Hospital expansion is going so well that preliminary construction on one of the largest developments ever built in Palo Alto could start as soon as next year. As long as the project stays on track, site preparation and utility work for the $3.5 billion build out could begin in 2011, said Shelley Hebert, Stanford’s executive director of public affairs. And a formal groundbreaking of the massive development that will add 2 million square feet to the medical campus could occur by 2012.
In a very welcome turn of events, progress on the project is moving faster than anyone predicted. Stanford first announced plans to renovate Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and rebuild its adult Stanford Hospital in 2006. After many delays, a milestone was reached in July when the public comment period for the draft environmental impact report closed.
No significant surprises were reported, and now the city plans to address the comments and incorporate them into the final report, scheduled to be released by year’s end.
"I think that the city is going to be able to meet the time line that they have published, and we should be getting approvals on entitlements by the end of the year," Hebert said. "The city has shown a commitment to working with us on the project."
Hospital finally on track
Sweet words coming as they do after years of contentiousness between the city and its world-class university. Since Stanford formally started the process in 2007, until this year has been marred by one setback after another. The original proposal included plans to upgrade the Stanford Shopping Center along with the hospitals. The back and forth was not too surprising given the scope of the effort, which is four construction projects rolled into one, and conceived to address the severe overcrowding and state seismic standards. When it is done, Stanford Hospital will be rebuilt, rising to roughly 130 feet, or eight stories; Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital will have another 100 beds and half a million square feet of space; and Stanford University School of Medicine will have 400,000 square feet of wet labs. In all, Stanford will add 1.3 million square feet to its health care campus for a total of 3.7 million square feet. Stanford officials credit the city’s new mayor, Pat Burt, for bringing a fresh perspective to the negotiations that had gotten perilously off track.
"Things did change with this new mayor," said Sherri Sager, a spokeswoman for Lucile Packard. "We’re pleased and looking for opportunities to continue to work and to partner with the city."
And Hebert agreed.
"I think we’re all very appreciative of the collaboration and the dialogue that has taken place under Mayor Burt’s leadership," Hebert said. "The pace has accelerated, in a way that is very helpful."
Burt, however, credited Stanford for stepping up its efforts to reduce future impacts from traffic and manpower. Once completed, 1,000 jobs will be added.
"The difference in perspective has been narrowed because the project has adopted some very sustainable processes," Burt said. "Things like water use, energy use, trip reductions — all those approaches are environmentally sustainable practices. They have now designed a lot of best practices in the hospital world, which means the difference between the city and hospital greatly narrowed."
Town and gown issues
Relations between city and university — town and gown — have always gone back and forth, noted Planning Director Steve Emslie.
"It depends on the issue — you talk to any college town, it’s always a love-hate relationship," he said. "Most college towns are really dependent on the university for their economic base and revenues, so it becomes a kind of a power struggle sometimes."
That struggle erupted repeatedly since Stanford first broached the proposal. Among the problems was a demand by the city to build homes to house 1,000 workers brought to Palo Alto by the expanded facility. But as a nonprofit hospital, Stanford is exempt from housing requirements. Nonetheless, the university offered to contribute $23 million to the city’s affordable housing fund.
"Stanford has offered to pay a housing fee equal to what other commercial projects pay, but the city hasn’t accepted that offer yet because we are still in negotiations with them over the terms of the development agreement," Emslie said.
Another issue arose with initial plans to expand Stanford Shopping Center along with the hospital complex. That proposal was dropped by Stanford when the university decided the mall was not consistent with its objectives and distracted city officials from focusing on the hospital’s expansion plans.
Burt said he understands that the hospital’s goals align with the city’s goals: to have a hospital that can care for its residents and not send them to another facility farther away because there are no beds.
"At the beginning of the year, we set it as a priority to make a strong commitment of city resources and council time, and focus on moving this along on as aggressive a time line as we can while still meeting the obligations under the law," he said.
Read the Business Journal’s continuous coverage of the Stanford project at http://bit.ly/stanfordexpansion.
At-a-glance
Project breakdown
1. Stanford Hospital (rendering shown above)
• New hospital building
• $2 billion project
• 1.3 million square feet
• 600 beds (from 456)
• Expanded emergency department
2. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
• $1 billion project
• Net increase of 441,500 square feet
• 361 beds (from 257)
3. Stanford University School of Medicine
• Replace 415,000 square feet of wet laboratories with new facilities
• Update for seismic codes
4. Hoover Pavilion
• $52 million project
• Renovate original Palo Alto Hospital and relocate offices razed for new hospital facilities
• Add 46,000 square feet for new medical
office space
JULY 2009
