Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Clinic Expansion

[Anondson]

Major adjustments to the expansion plans.

https://www.downtownvoices.news/posts/h ... sion-plans

Seems like the bids for the parking expansion on Park were so high they shelved that proposal. Tying into existing buildings drove cost too high.

New parking ramp to be build south of their campus on Chicago.

A new tower to replace the old ramps on Chicago between Ninth and Eighth.

[alexschief]

I'm glad they're no longer pursuing the parking lot expansion on that 6th and Portland site. That site is too valuable and important to the downtown streetscape. Hopefully they will eventually consider selling the ramp on the other half of the property as well, but we're probably a ways away from that.

[Silophant]

If they're building a big ramp, it'd.be nice if they'd just tgo for it and build it big enough to replace the 6th and Portland one as well, and just demolish that one and sell the site for redevelopment. Though, on the other hand, maybe by 2030 when this is all done, they'll realize that their 24-7 parking demand is lower than they thought and just demo that one without replacement.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see some renderings of the 500-bed inpatient tower - the big new hospital tower in Duluth is only 350 beds, so presumably 1.5 the size of that?

[EOst]

That rendered ramp is already enormous. Make it any bigger and it would completely overwhelm the historic district around it.

[Anondson]

It is quite a block-full, though most of the new ramp is behind the existing buildings on 3 sides.

It also appears Centennial will be closed except as entrances to the new parking structure.

Also the photo of the slide shows a skyway linking the structure to the newer Hennepin Healthcare Specialty Care building across 9th. I would expect a future skyway linking the inpatient future-tower across Chicago to the campus, so to best connect with the parking structure.

I wonder if the proposed parking structure having the same orangish (or whatever non-colorblind eyes see it as) color as the new Hennepin Healthcare Specialty Care building is too much of the same orange pattern?

[BigIdeasGuy]

Not sure on how wise it is to close Centennial and this will only continue separate Elliot Park from DT but facility planning and urban frontage aren't things medical facilities are exactly known for

There is a joke in there somewhere about only in America do you need a 1000 space ramp for a 500 bed hospital. I'll let someone else find it

[Nick]

From a business standpoint, it’s good for the hospital to encourage people to drive. Remember when Abbott had the McDonald’s?

[Mdcastle]

Twice as big as the existing inpatient buildings or in proportion to Duluth would be good guesses.

Part of the original justificaion for bulldozing old inpatient buildings was with the switch to all-private rooms due to patient expectations and current standard of care, you could built private rooms for 3/4 the size of a semi-private. But now private rooms are getting back to that size anyway due to demand for sofas or daybeds or whatever they use for overnight accomidations with 24 hour visitation.

They'll still continue to do it because old buildings are physcially wearing out and aren't as energey efficient, if you just take out one of the beds and put in a sofa you still have too many nursing stations and janitor's closets and things like that, and you have to find space on your facility to fit the displaced beds rather than just say building twice as high, and their highly profitable "choice" patients like flashy new buildings as well as private rooms.

As far as 1000 parking places for 500 beds I'm not sure what's odd about this, considering most patients have visitors and choice patients aren't going to want it to be difficult for their visitors to park, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's two staff members on duty for every inpatient bed, not just nurses but cooks, lab tech, and the cashier in the gift shop.

[Silophant]

That, and the new ramp will continue to also serve the five blocks of hospital buildings currently served by the existing ramp. Building the new ramp 400 spaces smaller than the existing one is a pretty good incremental step.

[alexschief]

When I lived in Philadelphia, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania built an enormous 500 bed facility. You can see it on Google Maps here.

[twincitizen]

Officials also plan to decommission four interconnected buildings at the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Chicago Avenue. Built between 1929 and 1971, these buildings formerly comprised the Metropolitan Medical Center, and now they’re referred to as the Orange, Green, Blue, and Shapiro buildings.

Does this complex make up the entire superblock stretching between Chicago and 10th Aves (between 7th & 8th Streets)? It would be nice to regain 9th Ave and/or 10th Ave as part of the street grid around there.

I'd guess the Orange, Green, and Blue complex are likely to be torn down, but the Shapiro building could possibly be converted to housing or hotel. I'd guess the privately-owned Life Sciences building at 700 10th Ave S will remain in place.

Not directly related to HCMC but adjacent - is there a plan or timeline for removing the County Medical Examiner building?

[mattaudio]

but the Shapiro building could possibly be converted to housing or hotel. I'd guess the privately-owned Life Sciences building at 700 10th Ave S will remain in place.

Is the Shapiro building the old Swedish hospital?

[Tyler]

but the Shapiro building could possibly be converted to housing or hotel. I'd guess the privately-owned Life Sciences building at 700 10th Ave S will remain in place.

Is the Shapiro building the old Swedish hospital?

Yes

[Nick]

Getting Snow Kreilich for your parking ramp is a pretty good gag.

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... ngRamp.pdf

[twincitizen]

9,000 square feet of commercial space along Chicago Avenue is nothing to sneeze at. I like that the commercial space faces the 'Chicago Avenue diagonal' frontage, so the storefronts should have excellent visibility from the intersection of Chicago & 9th.

They don't say whether that's all going to be leasable space or if a portion would be e.g. lobby for the parking ramp or other supportive uses. But if even half of that 9,000 square feet of "active liner" is leasable retail/restaurant space, that'll be a pretty nice improvement for that area. For reference, businesses like a chain coffee shop or Subway or barber/nail salon are all around 1,500 square feet.

One tiny suggestion I'd make is that they consider adding a small bay of on-street parking in front of the retail spaces. There's extra ROW between the curb and the property line on southbound Chicago here, so it should not be super hard to make that happen.

[Wezle]

The concept photos got a laugh out of me with the dozens of people hanging out in front of a parking ramp but it looks as good as a parking ramp proposal can be I think. Elliot park could really use more retail as a neighborhood so the commercial space will be nice for that.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

Article in today's Strib fleshing out details. Now proposing a new behavioral health building and decommissioning the non-brutalist structures of the main hospital.

https://www.startribune.com/three-billi ... /601219584

[Silophant]

A behavioral health care building seems like a much better use for that surface lot on Portland than the previously proposed megaramp. I'm curious what'll happen with the decommissioned buildings, especially the Orange Building that's presumably going to still have the street-spanning Red Building embedded into it.

[Anondson]

Minneapolis Planning Commission gives a thumbs up on the ramp.

https://finance-commerce.com/2025/03/he ... nneapolis/