NewHavenBIZ

6 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m What $840M buys YNHH T R E N D I N G BEYOND THE HEADLINES A s April turned to May, Yale-New Haven Hospital announced a blockbuster new project in the works: a 505,000-square-foot neurosci- ence center that will cost $838 mil- lion and take five years to complete. e largest development project in New Haven in a generation, the plan will transform and repurpose the hospital's St. Raphael campus and vault the hospital to national preeminence in neuroscience re- search and treatment. No one argues that $840 million is a lot of dough, but since the April 29 announcement press conference, no word has come forward about how and where those dollars are to be spent. Now we know more. Michael D. Holmes, senior vice president for operations, came to YNHH shortly aer its ac- quisition of the struggling Hospital of St. Raphael in 2012, and has been the point person on the integration of the two hospital campuses. "e goal for the acquisition was really to increase capacity, because our York Street campus was at 100-percent capacity," he explains. "Since then we have filled St. Raphael's up, and the York Street campus continues to grow." e average daily patient "cen- sus" (population) is about 1,400 against a licensed capacity of 1,541. In a hospital industry with an average daily capacity of about 85 percent, Holmes explains, YNHH operates at about 92 percent hospi- tal-wide, but between 95 and 100 percent in many areas, including heart and vascular care, surgical services, psychiatry/behavioral health — and neuroscience. "What we decided to do was to expand neuroscience to the St. Raphael campus," Holmes explains, in part because the York Street campus is "landlocked." e centerpiece of the new cen- ter will be a single structure with two towers housing 204 beds — a combination of ICU beds, medical/surgical beds and outpatient services focused around neuroscience care. at new structure, designed by the architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch, will also house 35 new ER rooms, Holmes explains. It will also have 200 new parking spaces beneath one of the towers. e footprint of the new structure, which itself will cost about $700 million, will require the razing of three existing buildings now totaling about 60,000 square feet on the St. Raphael cam- pus, including the private building on Sherman Avenue, two adjacent houses and the onetime convent that was home to the Sisters of Charity, who founded the Catholic hospital in 1907. It is also possible that some of the existing structures may be relocated or repurposed. Renovation and demolition work will account for about $150 million of the $838 million price tag on the project. at new structure on the block bordered by Sherman Avenue and George Street accounts for the bulk of the half-million square feet of new construction. In addition, two new parking garages will be built to accommodate another 1,600 parking spots. e remainder of the $840 mil- lion is filled with relative non-con- struction-related odds and ends — such as a $3 million "bridge" payment to the City of New Haven and a prepayment of about $9 million in building fees. n — Michael C. Bingham New life for New England's fallow factories A re century-old urban factory properties unproductive, oen contaminated eyesores, or po- tential engines of rebirth and renewal? e answer is: both. From Manchester, N.H. to Lowell, Mass. to Waterbury, New England cities confront the issue of how to manage the physical lega- cies of their industrial past. at subject was at the center of a panel discussion on "New Life for New England's Industrial Past" that took place last month at Alexion Pharmaceuticals Auditorium in downtown New Haven. Why should anyone care about old factory buildings in places like Waterbury or Springfield or Worcester — or New Haven? For one thing, the buildings "that shaped the landscape of these com- munities in the 19th and 20th centuries continue to shape our lives into the 21st century," said panel moderator John Dan- kosky, executive editor of the New England News Collaborative. "We need to connect with these buildings," said panelist Elihu Rubin, an architectural historian, documen- tary filmmaker and associate professor at the Yale School of Ar- chitecture. "ey were so well constructed and so adaptable — we can never replace them" with structures of comparable merit and appeal. However, remedi- ating and repurposing such old and large structures requires not just vision, but major financial commitment as well. Prospective investor/developers want to be assured of a healthy return on investment. One example is Winchester Los, a residential repur- posing of the former Winchester Repeating Arms factory in New Haven's Newhallville neighborhood. Devel- opers of the "artisanal" apartments sell "history, character and passion" flowing from the century-old brick walls and exposed-timber ceilings. at "passion" comes at a cost: $1,815-$3,755 monthly rent in a still-distressed urban neighborhood. But the need of private developers to guarantee a healthy return on investment collides with "issues of equity and affordability," said Rubin. Not to mention environmen- tal impact. Many of these urban brownfields sites were poisoned by decades of contamination — a "toxic heritage," Rubin said — that can cost millions to remediate. Is it worth it? It depends, of course. "e 'greenest' building is the building that's already there," noted Rubin. By giving them a new life and new use, "old industrial buildings can redeem themselves in this way." n — Michael C. Bingham The former Winchester factory in Newhallville repurposed as upscale apartments..

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