Renderings for a new 120-bed hospital at California Pacific Medical Center’s existing St. Luke’s campus in the Mission District and a new hospital with up to 304 beds on Cathedral Hill have been unveiled. Want to see the proposed designs? They’re here, with more images available here.
As you might recall, San Francisco and California Pacific Medical Center announced an agreement in March to build the two hospitals.
A previous development agreement reached between city and hospital officials last year called for a smaller-scale hospital at St. Luke’s and a larger one at the Cathedral Hill site at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard, but was shelved by supervisors unhappy with the deal.
One of the aspects of the previous proposed deal that supervisors criticized was an escape clause that could have allowed CPMC to close St. Luke’s if its operating margin stayed negative for two consecutive years.
In addition, residents near the proposed Cathedral Hill site had complained about the prospect of increased traffic congestion from a hospital being built at the intersection of two of the city’s main thoroughfares, he said.
Supervisor Mark Farrell applauded the new agreement in March, which he said “incorporates the needs and concerns of our neighborhoods.”
Supervisor David Campos, whose district includes St. Luke’s, said that hospital is “very personal to me” because he had received care there when he was uninsured as a young adult.
He said the new plan “ensures the long-term viability of St. Luke’s.”
Among other aspects of the new deal are a commitment by CPMC to contribute $14 million to build transit facilities near the Cathedral Hill campus and a new $9 million “Healthcare Innovation Fund” to increase the capacity of local community-based clinics and health care providers.
According to the Biz Times, these renderings are “believed to be the first of the new proposed hospital structures.”
CPMC chief executive officer Dr. Warren Browner says he hopes construction will begin at the sites by the end of the year.
