White Plains Hospital plans new in-patient building, will demolish garage

White Plains Hospital is preparing for the future by taking additional steps to enhance its physical facilities. With the successful development and opening about two years ago of its Center for Advanced Medicine & Surgery at 122 Maple Ave., the hospital is working on plans to demolish its parking garage on Davis Avenue, directly across from the hospital’s main entrance, and create a site for construction of a new in-patient building. Commercial buildings that the hospital owns, including one on S. Lexington Avenue that houses Magnotta’s Supermarket, also would be demolished to accommodate the new in-patient building.

The Davis Avenue garage has about 550 spaces. It has a separate entrance for hospital staff on S. Lexington Avenue. The hospital plans to create at-grade parking west of S. Lexington Avenue to at least temporarily replace parking that would be lost with demolition of the garage. The interim parking would be on land the hospital owns, part of which was purchased from Grid Properties, which had planned a retail and residential project for the site. The hospital currently has about 140 at-grade parking spaces there.

William Null, who is chairman of the hospital’s board of directors and an attorney with the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder gave the White Plains Common Council a preliminary presentation about the hospital’s plans. He said that plans to create the at-grade parking facility on the hospital’s land that is bounded by Rathbone, Maple and S. Lexington Avenues and E. Post Road would be submitted shortly. He said that plans for the new in-patient building will be coming in the future, possibly by the end of the year.

“Keeping current and keeping our facilities up-to-date and expanding as we go along is critically important to maintaining our position in the health care industry in the Hudson Valley,” Null said. “We’ve been pushing the envelope to try to stay at a point where we’re able to deliver top flight medical care and health care for the city and the region.”

He described the Davis Avenue garage as being beyond its useful age. Null said that having adequate parking is important to address the needs of patients and visitors as well as staff and doctors. He said that the part of the new at-grade parking site that is furthest from the main hospital building would be used by hospital staff. He said that valet parking service would be available for patients and visitors.

Null said that the new in-patient building would be intended to move the hospital toward being able to offer more private rooms for patients as well as expanding the hospital’s emergency department. He said that the hospital’s existing emergency department was designed for 40,000 to 50,000 patient visits a year and it now already is at 72,000 visits a year. He said new operating rooms also would be included in the new in-patient building.

“It’s a complex building to design and particularly given the need to phase it to keep the hospital in operation, so we’re working on it,” Null said. “We’re not going to have those plans ready to be reviewed until end of this year, like winter, late fall this year. What we’re looking to do is submit this plan and to essentially be able to make the Davis garage site ready so we can demolish that and have parking on this site.”

Null explained that the hospital is very excited about having the potential to expand beyond its legacy campus.

“The plan ultimately will be to have some sort of structured parking there, in all likelihood, that coupled with other structured parking that we need in the area and moving forward, you know, with more up-to-date and better facilities,” Null said.

He said that demolition plans for the Davis Avenue garage still have to be created, a demolition permit obtained from the city and that actual demolition still is months away. He said the interim parking would have to be operational before the garage demolition takes place.

Null said that extensive landscaping would surround the new at-grade parking to help screen and beautify the site and that the hospital is very sensitive to the neighbors around the site.

Null pointed out that White Plains Hospital has received numerous honors including being awarded five stars from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He said it was the only hospital in Westchester County to receive that recognition and among only eight in New York state to be so honored.

“We’ve got competitive challenges in Westchester County. NewYork-Presby (NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital) acquired a 400,000-square-foot building on Westchester Avenue,” Null said. “Northwell Health is ramping up its services in White Plains and other New York City-based health care providers have also moved into the county. We’re looking to meet the needs of the community and we’ve got some buildings that are older and in need of repair.”