I am surprised there is no thread for them already.

 

 

MetroHealth unveils campus transformation plan at public meeting, executives vague on funding sources

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio—During four days in early January, when the “polar vortex” drove temperatures in Northeast Ohio down to 10 below zero, MetroHealth Medical Center was nearly evacuated — twice — as the health system’s aging infrastructure buckled under the extreme cold. Pipes froze and burst, patient rooms flooded, toilets blew their tops and the hospital’s limping steam heat system nearly failed.

 

MetroHealth CEO Dr. Akram Boutros knew from the day of his arrival in Cleveland last May that the county health system’s main campus on West 25th Street was badly in need of an overhaul. It wasn't until this winter, however, that it became clear just how dire the situation was.

 

Boutros told the story to more than 500 people Friday morning at the health system’s Annual Stakeholder’s meeting, held for the first time at the Convention Center in a bid to involve more of the community in the public hospital’s internal planning process.

 

“It was like Niagara Falls,” Boutros told the Plain Dealer in a meeting last week, describing how water fell from one floor to the next. “That brought home the urgency of this for us. We must begin replacing these buildings — they’re completely outdated.”

 

In the end, 200 rooms were flooded, from intensive care units to maternity suites. The old research building, which houses about 80 employees, was evacuated. The staffing, repairs and cleanup cost $1 million.

 

“That’s $250,000 a day we didn’t need to spend and that would have been better spent elsewhere,” Boutros said.

 

And that may be best argument in favor of a campus transformation plan that will likely take more than five years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars: the alternative — doing nothing — would be even more expensive, and put patients at Cleveland's safety net hospital at an unacceptable level of risk.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/05/metrohealth_unveils_campus_tra.html#incart_m-rpt-2

This is super encouraging.

This was the graphic with the article.

 

MetroHealth is taking unique approach as it plots campus overhaul

 

 

CEO Boutros is forming a civic focus group of sorts

By TIMOTHY MAGAW

 

 

It was billed as an event where MetroHealth would unveil plans for a striking overhaul of its crumbling and outdated main campus off West 25th Street in Cleveland. However, the health system's boisterous CEO, Dr. Akram Boutros, last week didn't unveil a single blueprint or cost estimate for the massive facelift he expects will be almost complete by 2020.

 

 

Instead, Boutros, who joined the health system less than a year ago, launched what could be characterized as a countywide focus group aimed at drumming up ideas to revitalize the taxpayer-supported hospital's dilapidated headquarters and its blighted surrounding neighborhood. The idea, Boutros said in an interview last week with Crain's, is to transform MetroHealth into “another jewel in the necklace that is Cleveland.”

 

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20140511/SUB1/305119977/metrohealth-is-taking-unique-approach-as-it-plots-campus-overhaul

Wouldn't it be cool to run a streetcar line from downtown and Ohio City down to MetroHealth and eventually to downtown Old Brooklyn/Zoo? Develop this is a health care and environmental sciences corridor with Villa Hispana in the middle of it!

MetroHealth officials didn't offer up any concrete plans for what the overhaul might include. They said it likely would involve fewer beds, the demolition of the iconic patient towers and would do a better job of weaving the sprawling medical campus into the surrounding community. McDonald noted, “Wouldn't it be great to embrace the neighborhood opposed to having a fortress, which is the way it looks like now?”

 

Boutros said he's asked for the Greater Cleveland Partnership's help in attracting new businesses and other investments in the area surrounding the health system's campus. In his speech last week, Boutros said, “We can create a vibrancy that should attract business and investment, increase employment and average income, and reduce crime.”

 

 

That part makes me very hopeful that we may see this economic asset leveraged into some community development.  I hope they bring their retail and public uses out to the W.25th St. streetfront.

MetroHealth is moving forward on this....

 

MetroHealth System plans to add two stories to its 10-year-old critical care pavilion

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20141208/FREE/141209832/metrohealth-system-plans-to-add-two-stories-to-its-10-year-old

 

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2015/pdf/NWMeetingAgenda3-11-15.pdf

 

Near West Design Review District

Agenda

(8:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 11th, 2015)

Dollar Bank, 3115 West 25th Street

 

8:30 a.m. 1. MetroHealth Medical Center Critical Care Pavilion ©

2140 Scranton Road

. Project Representatives – Adam O’Brien, CBLH Architects; Walter Jones,

Senior V.P. of Transformation, MetroHealth Medical Center; Rick Mayer,

Director of Construction, MetroHealth Medical Center

Proposed new construction atop existing Critical Care Pavilion will include 85 new

patient rooms to be built on two floors. Will include 2 proposed helipads on rooftop

and a new interior courtyard for patients.

Cool. Two helipads, huh?

And I noticed significant interior demo work has already begun on CPI

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2015/04102015/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for April 10, 2015

 

NEAR WEST DESIGN REVIEW

NW2015-003 – MetroHealth Medical Center Critical Care Pavilion Vertical Expansion New Construction: Seeking Final Approval

Project Address: 4120 Scranton Road

Project Representative: Walter Jones, MetroHealth

Anne Hill, MetroHealth

Adam O'Brien, CBLH Design

MetroHealth formally kicks off $1.2 billion transformation

 

By Casey Ross, The Plain Dealer

on August 17, 2015 at 12:13 PM, updated August 17, 2015 at 12:26 PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- MetroHealth celebrated the start of its $1.2 billion campus transformation on Monday, a multi-year project that hospital executives said will better align the organization with patients' needs.

 

The work is kicking off with construction of an 85-room critical care pavilion that will house the sickest patients and serve as the primary intake valve in a mass disaster event. Although construction began weeks ago, MetroHealth held a beam signing for the facility with county officials on Monday morning.

 

"We hope that we'll never need those 85 rooms to respond to a tragedy," said Dr. Akram Boutros, chief executive of MetroHealth. "Instead, we want this 75,000-square-foot expansion to serve as a glimpse into our collective future."

 

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2015/08/metrohealth_formall_kicks_off.html

 

 

"...The $85 million critical care pavilion is scheduled for completion next July, in time for the Republican National Convention...."

 

Why is this a necessary statement?

"...The $85 million critical care pavilion is scheduled for completion next July, in time for the Republican National Convention...."

 

Why is this a necessary statement?

 

Why is that even a goal??

 

I want to see what they're going to with the West 25th Street corridor and its current lack of street presence.

"...The $85 million critical care pavilion is scheduled for completion next July, in time for the Republican National Convention...."

 

Why is this a necessary statement?

 

Why is that even a goal??

 

I want to see what they're going to with the West 25th Street corridor and its current lack of street presence.

 

Are they making an implication here??

 

"The work is kicking off with construction of an 85-room critical care pavilion that will house the sickest patients and serve as the primary intake valve in a mass disaster event."

Are they making an implication here??

 

"The work is kicking off with construction of an 85-room critical care pavilion that will house the sickest patients and serve as the primary intake valve in a mass disaster event."

 

Ah, OK now I see why it's a goal. Metro is the region's preeminent trauma unit and assigned since 9-11 to be the main disaster response facility. So if there was an attack on the GOP event, Metro would have to be ready for it. And having a critical care unit still under construction during such a prominent event isn't a good thing. OK, now I get it.

WOW!!!!!

 

 

A whole bunch of progress being made here:

 

 

In case you didn't know, the old CPI building is completely gone now

 

 

DSCN7160 by Scott Muscatello, on Flickr

WOW!!!!!

 

 

A whole bunch of progress being made here:

 

 

In case you didn't know, the old CPI building is completely gone now

 

 

DSCN7160 by Scott Muscatello, on Flickr

Yea...I was thinking the same thing the other day. That area has a lot of potential and good bones.

MetroHealth plans to borrow $1.25 billion to build new hospital, transform campus

By Karen Farkas, cleveland.com

on November 29, 2016 at 9:00 AM, updated November 29, 2016 at 10:38 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - MetroHealth System plans to borrow $1.25 billion to build a new hospital, transforming its main campus on West 25th Street.

 

In 2022, the health system -- which has opened 10 new locations and began providing care at more than 20 facilities in the last three years, with the goal of regularly serving patients throughout Cuyahoga County -- will move patients out of its iconic round towers and into the new building, which will be connected to the recently opened Critical Care Pavilion. The towers, built between 1962 and 1972, primarily funded through tax levies, will likely be torn down.

 

The announcement comes five years after consultants told hospital officials they would likely end 2015 with a $40 million deficit and should either sell, close or reinvent its mission, said President and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/11/metrohealth_system_to_sell_mor.html#incart_2box

It looks like the side of Metro Health Medical Center that fronts on W. 25th will be left as is, at least from looking at the photo. What's pictured looks like their keeping the outpatient pavilions which front on 25th as is, keeping  what's there currently--perhaps there will be aesthetic changes to these pavilions as part of the investment in campus transformation?

 

Large portions of the Medical Center facilities east of Scranton (including the two towers) look like they will be demolished and rebuilt--this portion of the hospital houses the dental, cardiology department, labor & delivery department, TB clinic, and so-on, in addition to its in-paitient care. The critical care pavillion was already rebuilt and is located east of Scranton and is connected to these buildings--I believe this includes the emergency department and trauma care facilities.

 

While the Medical Center is considered Metro's main campus, a Level 1 trauma center, and serves lots of out-patient appointments, out-patient referrals often send folks to satelite campuses throughout the city and county (think optometry, audiology, etc.): further down W. 25 at the Pearl Rd. you have Metro's Old Brooklyn location, the surgical center out on W. 150 near Puritas, the old Kaiser Health Center on Snow Rd. in Parma, the location in Brecksville... Some of these locations include ERs (Parma, Brecksville).  Metro's resources have gradually been dispersed throughout the County -- as opposed to all being located more-or-less exclusively at the Main Medical Center. 

I am a little bit confused here.  Are they going to build around the existing hospital as it stands OR are they going to

relocate to some temporary site while they build the new hospital?  http://www.cleveland19.com/story/33821098/major-health-care-announcement-in-northeast-ohio

Timeline

 

1st they move services to more satelite locations (2017)

 

2nd they build a new garage (2017)

 

3rd they demo the southpoint garage which is currently between the emergency room (critical care pavillion) and the skilled nursing facility on Scranton close to W. 25th/Pearl/Scranton split just south of I-71 (2018)

 

4th they build the new hospital on the site of the old South Point garage (2019 - 2022)

 

5th they open the new hospital (2022)

 

6th they demo the bulk of the old hospital between the emergency room and the parking garage on the northside of the campus, the valentine garage. This includes the iconic two tower portion of the hospital, and green space is to remain. (2022)

 

Metro Hospital is a Cuyahoga County Trama Center. How are they going to perform services at satellite centers? Unless they temporarily move to another hospital.

Metro Hospital is a Cuyahoga County Trama Center. How are they going to perform services at satellite centers? Unless they temporarily move to another hospital.

 

I have no detailed information on this but here is my assumption from reading the timeline:

- The Critical Care pavilion has already been built, so emergency medicine shouldn't be affected.

- Many non-essential services will be moved to satellite campuses (because logistics will most likely be a nightmare while construction is happening).

- The other critical floors of the existing hospital (trauma-inpatient and ICUs) will remain in operation until the new hospital opens its doors.

Cuyahoga County will back MetroHealth System's transformation bonds, saving Metro up to $160 million

https://t.co/QNRPRjCT4T

MetroHealth's bond ratings lowered on campus overhaul project

By Ginger Christ, The Plain Dealer

on April 25, 2017 at 4:47 PM, updated April 25, 2017 at 5:48 PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The three big ratings agencies last week lowered their assessments of The MetroHealth System's bonds after analyzing the details of the county hospital system's planned massive construction project.

 

S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings downgraded MetroHealth from A- to BBB-, while Moody's Investors Service lowered the bonds from A3 to Baa3. Each of the new ratings put the bonds just a step above speculative bonds, or junk bonds, which means they are vulnerable to default.

 

The decision to downgrade "was about the additional debt and being such a large issue and a big project," said Suzie Desai, a Chicago-based analyst for S&P Global. "It's a large project with some risk."

 

To finance its campus transformation on West 25th Street, MetroHealth issued $915 million in new debt. The construction project, which will involve building a 12-story hospital building, a parking garage and a central utility plant, is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2017/04/metrohealths_bond_ratings_lowe_1.html

MetroHealth's bond ratings lowered on campus overhaul project

 

This implies no confidence in Boutros' management, which flies in the face of his performance to date. It also reflects on Cuyahoga County's credit, since their backing of the bonds apparently means nothing.  I think the rating agencies butts are still burning from criticism of their miserable performance prior to 2008.

^^Somebody at Moody's must have misplaced that fat envelope with the 44113 return address...

Time to start building stuff...

 

MetroHealth issues $945.7 million in bonds for campus transformation

Updated on May 26, 2017 at 10:32 AM

Posted on May 25, 2017 at 10:47 AM

BY GINGER CHRIST, THE PLAIN DEALER

[email protected]

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The MetroHealth System today sold $945.7 million in hospital revenue bonds to fund its campus transformation project.

 

The hospital system's campus transformation involves building a new 12-story, 270 bed hospital, a new central utility plant and a new parking garage, among other things.

 

MetroHealth on May 9 priced the bonds at $945.7 million. At that time, the bonds were bid on by 122 investors. They have a 40-year maturity and an All-True Interest Cost of 4.997 percent. The true interest cost reflects the total cost of the project and a lower rate means the hospital will have to pay less money to investors.

 

MORE

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2017/05/metrohealth_issues_9457_millio.html

 

MetroHealth trustees choose Milwaukee office of HGA to design new hospital (photos)

Updated on June 28, 2017 at 6:08 PM

BY STEVEN LITT, THE PLAIN DEALER

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The MetroHealth System has chosen HGA, a large national architecture firm based in Minneapolis, to design the core projects including a new main hospital building for the planned transformation of its aging and badly outmoded main campus on the city's West Side.

 

Trustees of the hospital system voted Wednesday to approve the selection of the Milwaukee office of HGA, originally known as Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, as the designer for projects estimated to cost $400 million.

 

MetroHealth last month completed a $946 million bond sale to pay for the upcoming projects and associated costs, including the $28.5 million fee negotiated with HGA.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/06/metrohealth_trustees_choose_mi.html

cleveland.com

MetroHealth will demo Outpatient Plaza and may replace it with a park along W. 25th St. (photos)

Posted on October 19, 2017 at 8:54 AM

5-7 minutes

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The $1.3 billion project to revamp the county health system's crowded, confusing and outmoded main campus on the city's West Side has always seemed like a very big deal. Yet it's even bigger than MetroHealth has previously let on.

 

Walter Jones, the health system's chief in-house planner, said for the first time publicly in a recent interview that MetroHealth now plans to remove its 25-year-old Outpatient Plaza building and below-grade parking garage along West 25th Street, and replace it in another location.

 

The concept, explored in as many as 30 previous iterations of its new master plan, has never been shared until now.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/10/metrohealth_could_replace_outp.html#incart_2box_business

First look: MetroHealth unveils plan to turn main campus into 'hospital in a park' (photos)

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2018/01/first_look_metrohealth_unveils.html#incart_m-rpt-1

First look: MetroHealth unveils plan to turn main campus into 'hospital in a park' (photos)

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2018/01/first_look_metrohealth_unveils.html#incart_m-rpt-1

 

I actually like this concept. Cleveland was called Forest City for a reason. I've always wished that the city had enough resources to turn much of it's unwanted vacant land and parking lots back into parks/forest. The area gets so much rain/snowfall that it has some very majestic older trees not seen in other parts of the state or region.

I think the concept is good. I'm just not sure about that wide swathe of green between the buildings and W25th. A bit too disconnected IMO.

I love the idea of the park since there's not a lot in Clark-Fulton in terms of usable open green space. There's also not a lot of interest in that stretch of 25th. I hope they incorporate a playground somewhere in the park I can walk my daughter to since we live right next door. What's there right now in no way interacts with W25th or Scranton and is basically a pedestrian dead zone. It might as well be a prison with a walkway bridge to a hospital.

"Towers in the Park"  This MetroHealth Campus Plan is state of the art 1950's urban planning.  Instead of using the economic engine of a major hospital to turn the economic gears of the surrounding urban neighborhood they've disconnected it as far as they can.

I work at Metro, but trained at the Houston Med Center. If I were a patient I would much rather have parks to observe and exist in than block after block of hospitals surrounded by concrete. Patients enduring health difficulties aren’t so much concerned about how urban their hospital is but rather feeling comfortable during a challenging situation. The Houston Med Center was very sober and unappealing. I think green space affords patients some peace. I’m all for urban density in residential and commercial areas but don’t feel hospitals should be responsible for providing it.

I've never quite understood that point of view.  I mean sure, ok, but hospitals in NYC are able to help people despite the urban density nearby.  Right?  Or do they fail on some level that rural hospitals don't?  Maybe a sea of green is helpful somehow, all else being equal, but all else isn't equal.  Metro is funded by tax revenues so it has a direct stake in the success of the city around it.  And we've seen what this type of planning has done for the east side.  Little old ladies walking past blocks and blocks and blocks of useless barren snowscape just to get to a store.

I work at Metro, but trained at the Houston Med Center. If I were a patient I would much rather have parks to observe and exist in than block after block of hospitals surrounded by concrete. Patients enduring health difficulties aren’t so much concerned about how urban their hospital is but rather feeling comfortable during a challenging situation. The Houston Med Center was very sober and unappealing. I think green space affords patients some peace. I’m all for urban density in residential and commercial areas but don’t feel hospitals should be responsible for providing it.

 

Maybe they could make it a part of a neighborhood plan that is green but walkable, instead of separating it from the surrounding neighborhood behind a wide moat, I mean park.

If part of the plan was to build 5 to 10 story mixed use buildings across w25th, I would totally see how this can work.  Instead, it's a large 'parks' next to one of the least populated areas of w25th. It would make a lot more sense to put the park on scranton near valen5ine ave. Additionally I see metro health drive is intact... all it does is screw up the street grid. Connect Valentine to sackett about 80 feet north instead of this goofy off skew intersection.

I love this. Many early hospitals were surrounded by parks or were set in natural or rural areas where patients could receive fresh air and sunlight. This trend was stronger with sanatoriums where having open-air porches that faced south was instrumental to a patient's health. But hospitals should be promoters of a healthy environment, and being surrounded by acres of parks - which I surmise would be open to nearby residents in an area where there are few parks, is a far better environment for patients than being lobbed in a concrete jungle. Cleveland is far from running out of places to develop upon and we do have the leeway and room to set aside land for passive activities.

"Towers in the Park"  This MetroHealth Campus Plan is state of the art 1950's urban planning.  Instead of using the economic engine of a major hospital to turn the economic gears of the surrounding urban neighborhood they've disconnected it as far as they can.

 

You could build a Hong Kong style development on two blocks and leave the rest of the property fallow but who is going to move to the open parcels? Turn the economic gears? Metro has been there for decades while Clark-Fulton and Brooklyn Centre continue to decline. Are you talking condos/apartments/retail catering to doctors (and not the neighborhood) for a few more blocks? OK. Beyond that, what?

I think close to a billion dollar investment here might turn some gears, no?

I think close to a billion dollar investment here might turn some gears, no?

 

So, the hospital invests a billion making their footprint smaller. Beyond condos/apartments not designed for the neighborhood residents (maybe)...what's going to be built?

 

BTW, I have no issue moving the park off of W 25th and putting it behind the hospital to make it more urban.

Metrohealth has been instrumental in the last few years in that neighborhood. While the new hospital is great, the steps they are taking in the neighborhood has started to be transformative. Metrohealth took the lead on shutting down west 25 for Sunday’s for ciCLEvia. They are working toward a program that will reward employees for buying homes in the neighborhood. They have founded a new development arm that will build new mixed use development. And they have paid RTA to brand the 51 buses as part of a move toward bus rapid transit on the corridor. In short, metrohealth is doing great things for that neighborhood. The types of incremental steps that are meant to change a neighborhoods trajectory. Combine that with moves by the city (villa hispana) and detroitshoreway (renovating historic structures along 25) and this area is moving the right way.

And they have paid RTA to brand the 51 buses as part of a move toward bus rapid transit on the corridor.

And now the busses will be a block away from the campus, separated by the park. That's fine for you and me, but tell an elderly person to walk that in winter or on a rainy day.

is a far better environment for patients than being lobbed in a concrete jungle.

 

Who said anything about a concrete jungle.  You're making a strawman argument here.  It's generally accepted on UO that urban environments can be green, friendly, and pedestrian oriented.  Did that all of a sudden go out the window because we're talking about a hospital?

 

"Towers in the Park"  This MetroHealth Campus Plan is state of the art 1950's urban planning.  Instead of using the economic engine of a major hospital to turn the economic gears of the surrounding urban neighborhood they've disconnected it as far as they can.

 

You could build a Hong Kong style development on two blocks and leave the rest of the property fallow but who is going to move to the open parcels? Turn the economic gears? Metro has been there for decades while Clark-Fulton and Brooklyn Centre continue to decline. Are you talking condos/apartments/retail catering to doctors (and not the neighborhood) for a few more blocks? OK. Beyond that, what?

 

Not just housing for doctors- for nurses, support staff, senior that need regular access to healthcare.  Maybe leverage the economic clout of the hospital to create supporting retail that can be used by staff and visitors to the hospital and the surrounding neighborhood.  Does this extend out beyond a few blocks?  No, but it's a nucleus that the neighborhood could grow around.  Or it can be separate.  They've chosen separate.  Rather, they've chosen to continue the same separation that has allowed the surrounding neighborhoods to decline around them in the past as you've noted.

Actually the 81 already goes down Scranton road. But yea, the 51 will be a block away from the main campus and that definitely is a difficult walk. The main hospital campus already is a block away though, with the exception of the in-patient plaza that is immediately adjacent to 25th. That plaza, however, is probably one of the worst examples of urban design in cleveland. It is basically a blank wall.

Are any of the world's greatest cities known for the beauty and expanse of their "open space"? https://t.co/qtM7WJEeTd

is a far better environment for patients than being lobbed in a concrete jungle.

 

Who said anything about a concrete jungle.  You're making a strawman argument here.  It's generally accepted on UO that urban environments can be green, friendly, and pedestrian oriented.  Did that all of a sudden go out the window because we're talking about a hospital?

 

"Towers in the Park"  This MetroHealth Campus Plan is state of the art 1950's urban planning.  Instead of using the economic engine of a major hospital to turn the economic gears of the surrounding urban neighborhood they've disconnected it as far as they can.

 

You could build a Hong Kong style development on two blocks and leave the rest of the property fallow but who is going to move to the open parcels? Turn the economic gears? Metro has been there for decades while Clark-Fulton and Brooklyn Centre continue to decline. Are you talking condos/apartments/retail catering to doctors (and not the neighborhood) for a few more blocks? OK. Beyond that, what?

 

Not just housing for doctors- for nurses, support staff, senior that need regular access to healthcare.  Maybe leverage the economic clout of the hospital to create supporting retail that can be used by staff and visitors to the hospital and the surrounding neighborhood.  Does this extend out beyond a few blocks?  No, but it's a nucleus that the neighborhood could grow around.  Or it can be separate.  They've chosen separate.  Rather, they've chosen to continue the same separation that has allowed the surrounding neighborhoods to decline around them in the past as you've noted.

 

Well MH can be separated by a park or it can be separated by vacant lots with a small gentrified block or two that will have nothing to do with existing residents that live there. Honestly, what's the difference?

Are those really the only options? Need creativity.

Are those really the only options? Need creativity.

 

Well who's going to fund all these options that are out there? I'm not against other options but what's a feasible plan. Do we do it like Stark and try to build a high-rise with no financial support?

What are the area's strengths? A big Level 1 hospital that's renowned for its burn unit (offices for spin-off medical R&D companies, 3-D printing labs, etc!), a pretty good zoo that's well run and expanding in a no-growth metro area (environmental science R&D companies, non-profit environmental organizations, etc.), and  Just over the bluff and a highway is Steelyard Commons which isn't that easily reached by transit. So why not have a pedestrian corridor leading from West 25th Street transit line over toward Steelyard Commons and have this pedestrian corridor be a magnet for some small-scale neighborhood/hospital staff/spin-off staff oriented retailers?

 

This plan doesn't do anything to leverage the strengths of the neighborhood's assets and instead just builds a prettier moat around the hospital.