Construction starts on $20M White Plains Hospital addition

Jon Schandler, White Plains Hospital CEO, at a Monday ceremony at the East Post Road construction site.
Jon Schandler, White Plains Hospital CEO, at a Monday ceremony at the East Post Road construction site.

Demolition work has begun at the site of a new 38,000-square-foot medical office and patient services building that will double the size of White Plains Hospital”™s cancer treatment program.

An 85-year-old building is being razed at the corner of East Post Road and Longview Avenue to make way for the new facility adjoining the hospital”™s Dickstein Cancer Treatment Center.

Linked on three levels to the existing 15-year-old cancer center, the building will give the 292-bed community hospital approximately 70,000 square feet of space dedicated to cancer care.  The Dickstein Center is already the largest free-standing cancer treatment center in the county, according to hospital officials.

The approximately $20 million facility is scheduled to open in fall of 2015.

An architect's rendering of the cancer care building due to open in fall 2015.
An architect’s rendering of the cancer care building due to open in fall 2015.

“Our cancer program is growing because of our commitment to providing top-tier care for our patients,” Jon Schandler, CEO of White Plains Hospital, said at a Monday ceremony to mark the start of construction. “This significant investment and expansion will enable us to continue one of our most important missions ”“ caring for our community.”

The glass-sheathed building was designed by Posen Architects L.L.C., a West Orange, N.J., firm with an office in downtown White Plains. White Plains Hospital officials noted the design is consistent with the major renovations and improvements underway on the hospital campus that occupies a full city block.

With the new addition, the hospital will consolidate its expanding oncology services by providing office space for physicians, some of whom currently have off-campus offices.  It will also free up space for additional treatment of patients in the Dickstein building by shifting physicians”™ and other medical offices and training rooms to the new building.

Accredited in 1993, the cancer center has treated nearly 23,000 patients and has become one of the hospital”™s signature programs. The program has been recognized with multiple outstanding achievement awards from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and in 2012 was accredited as a National Breast Center by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers.

White Plains Hospital is the city”™s largest employer with about 2,400 workers.