They have a prescription for growth!
Lutheran Medical Center hopes to expand its Sunset Park campus with two new buildings in order to beef up its cancer-treatment programs, capacity for outpatient procedures, and add in-patient beds, a rep told Community Board 10 on Sept. 19. And the potential for expanded health care options is a boon for area residents who have fewer places to get medical treatment as other hospitals close, one community leader said.
“We’re in a situation in Southwest Brooklyn where we lost a major hospital — the Victory Memorial Hospital — and NYU Lutheran is one of the hospitals that is filling that void, so I think any expansion that improves services for the residents of Southwest Brooklyn is a positive,” said Community Board 10 district manager Josephine Beckmann.
Plans for the two buildings are preliminary. New York University, which operates the 450-bed hospital on 55th Street and Second Avenue, has not filed for permits with the Department of Buildings — but medical center staff aim to convert a barren parking lot on 56th Street between First and Second avenues into a facility that will boost the hospital’s number of beds and outpatient services, according to hospital rep Joe Lhota, who presented the plan to the board.
In May the hospital purchased land on 57th Street and Second Avenue for $12.1 million and plans to build a facility focused on cancer treatment with services including radiation, oncology, and chemotherapy, he said.
Officials would not say how large the buildings may be.
Expansion plans also include adding two floors to the hospital’s family health center on 56th Street. The building’s foundation can accommodate two extra stories — but the hospital did not previously have the cash to build them, Lhota said.
“When it was built, Lutheran did not have enough money to really finish the job,” said Lhota. “So we’re going to put those floors on and we’re going to expand the family health center, as well as have an ambulatory surgery center — and it’ll be connected to our new building.”
New York University also plans on giving the hospital $50-million grant for clinical programs, Lhota said.
