A major expansion at Columbia University Irving Medical Center is expected to come in over $1 billion, making it one of the most expensive hospital construction projects in the five boroughs in recent years.
New York-Presbyterian filed plans with the state to build a $1.2 billion oncology and multispecialty center at its flagship Washington Heights campus on the site of the former Harkness Eye Institute. The project is intended to centralize the hospital’s growing oncology staff and update an aging medical campus, where most of the buildings are over fifty years old.
New York-Presbyterian is in the process of demolishing the Harkness Eye Institute, which had stood at the location for close to a century, said a person with knowledge of the project, and plans to move it into the 10th floor of the new building, according to a filing with the state Depart of Health. The new facility, to be known as the Beacon Building, will also house the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, consolidating it from many buildings into a single site. The health system says the new layout, which includes medical and social services and billing and administrative functions, will improve the continuity of patient care, according to the filing.
Hospital construction projects occur constantly in the five boroughs, mostly costing in the range of millions of dollars for internal renovations, wing expansions and equipment additions. Less common are megaprojects that require altering a significant part of a health system’s footprint in a city with a tough real estate market and strict land-use rules, though they still occur.
Northwell Health is pushing ahead with a rezoning application to build a new $2 billion hospital tower at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side despite vocal opposition from local residents. The construction is expected to take nine years once the months- or years-long regulatory hurdles have been met. Memorial Sloan Kettering is also in the middle of a lengthy land-use process over the construction of a new cancer center on the Upper East Side.
The new building at Columbia will contain multiple specialties to help integrate numerous services and streamline care coordination for people with cancer, the filing states. The building will house medical, surgical and radiation functions, as well as supportive services like lab work, nutrition and social work. The site will also offer outpatient rehabilitation, part of a plan to absorb more patients transitioning from a hospital stay to treatment in the community.
The expansion, ultimately, will help the hospital meet a rising demand for cancer treatment. Over the last four years, the hospital added 30 oncologists in specialties ranging from breast cancer to neurooncology. The demand has grown with advancements in screening and treatment, the hospital wrote in its filing with the state.
