Boston Children’s Hospital Project Gets Thumbs Up

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Boston Children’s Hospital rendering

Boston—It’s been a long time coming but Boston Children’s Hospital‘s expansion can finally get underway. The Massachusetts Public Health Council just approved the $1 billion project, according to the Boston Globe.

It’s an endeavor that will further solidify the BCH’s position as the largest pediatric medical center in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and one of the largest in the country. As was noted on the Council’s docket for Oct. 20, the hospital’s expansion plan entails construction of an 11-story, Shepley Bulfinch-designed inpatient clinical building at the main campus on Longwood Ave.; renovation of the hospital’s main building; and the development of an eight-story clinical building at BCH’s site in neighboring Brookline. The Council’s approval was unanimous, with all 10 members signing off on the project.

Boston Children’s Hospital rendering

The agency’s full support was, as described in the Globe, extended despite the objections of groups against the necessary demolition of an outdoor garden, and detractors asserting that the expansion will cause an increase in Massachusetts healthcare costs. However, BCH is planning green space as a substitute for the garden, and as for costs, the Council’s approval of the hospital’s plan comes with conditions pertaining to the controlling of any cost increases.

Big-ticket hospital projects are not exactly rare these days. In April, Baylor College of Medicine and Catholic Health Initiatives broke ground on the second building of the new $1.1 billion CHI St. Luke’s Health–Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston. Also in April, Indiana University Health released details of its $1 billion expansion plan for Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. In Memphis, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is in the midst of a $1.2 billion expansion project. And the list goes on. Per a report by commercial real estate services firm Colliers International, at the end of the first quarter, there were 647 hospital properties in the U.S. construction pipeline with a total value of $68.3 billion.

Renderings courtesy of Boston Children’s Hospital