By Tracey Drury – Senior Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Jan 19, 2024
Fourth quarter was a busy time for Western New York hospitals and health care providers, which have announced or filed plans for more than $122 million in expansion and construction projects.
That’s in addition to several major projects where dollar values have not yet been disclosed.
The largest among them: A $98 million expansion of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center cell therapy program. The plan, supported by $30 million from Empire State Development, calls for converting 11,000 square feet over several floors of the main hospital downtown, primarily within its Cancer Cell Center.
When completed early next year, the project will have expanded capacity for research in Roswell’s Therapeutic Cell Production Facility from six to 20 specialized clean rooms, making it the largest academic cell and gene therapy research and manufacturing facility in the country.
Here’s a look at other construction projects underway across the region:
• Buffalo General Medical Center is spending $1.35 million to renovate and expand outpatient infusion services at its 100 High St. campus. The 484-bed hospital, part of the Kaleida Health system, also offers outpatient infusion services from its Amherst center at 45 Spindrift Drive. The project is under review by the state.
• HighPointe on Michigan, Kaleida Health's long-term care facility in Buffalo, received approvals from the state for a $1.1 million project to expand ventilator beds at. Plans call for doubling the number of beds in the adult ventilator unit from 10 to 20 while adding three beds to bring the pediatric unit up to 10 beds. With approvals from the state, the project is slated to begin in late spring with a completion by fall.
• UPMC Chautauqua is prepping for an $8.4 million renovation at its 208 Foote Ave. campus in Jamestown. The project in the central sterile processing department, under review by the state, involves renovations to add equipment, expand the space and improvements for staff efficiency and workflow. The project comes as UPMC preps for a surgical services expansion and consolidation at the 277-bed hospital. In February, that project was selected by the DOH for nearly $30 million in state funding.
• Mercy Hospital of Buffalo is renovating its emergency department to add a second imaging room for CT equipment. The $2.2 million project at 565 Abbott Road includes reinstalling an X-ray machine in converted space adjacent to the CT area. The project is under review by the state.
• Bertrand Chaffee Hospital is working on a $2.1 million expansion to add pediatric primary care and orthopedics. The plan calls for building out the garden level and on the third floor of its health center in Springville. Funding, approved in February, comes through the third round of the DOH Statewide Healthcare Facility Transformation Program. The project is under review by the state.
• The Community Health Center of Buffalo is spending about $2 million to relocate its Lockport clinic to a larger space at 100 Main St., a former bank building. The health center expanded into Lockport in 2012 when it opened at 38 Heritage Court. The new 4,357-square-foot space on Main Street will house family medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, social work, care management and, for the first time, dental and behavioral health. Pending final state approvals, the project should be completed by April.
• Mercy Hospital of Buffalo is planning a $1.9 million upgrade in its Catholic Health Heart Center at 565 Abbott Road in Buffalo. The project calls for replacing existing equipment in the cardiac catheterization lab. The project, which requires a limited review by the state health department, follows a $4.3 million expansion in 2017. The project is under review by the state.
• Jones Memorial Hospital is expanding with a new extension clinic in Hornell to provide rheumatology and infusion services. The project, valued at $1.85 million, calls for building the new outpatient clinic at the Hornell Medical Office Building at 7309 Seneca Road North. The Wellsville-based hospital operates on revenue of $62 million. The project requires only administrative review.
• Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville is planning renovations at a new primary care clinic in Alfred that opened in late September at 35 Glen St. The $498,000 project includes renovating a 5,632-square-foot two-story building. An administrative review is required by the DOH. Another $1.8 million expansion is planned at an extension clinic in Hornell to add rheumatology and infusion services.
• The Northtowns Dialysis Center, operated by Knickerbocker Dialysis Inc., is expanding its facilities at 4041 Delaware Ave. in Tonawanda with an expanded isolation room and cosmetic renovations. The $423,536 project is expected to be completed in about three months.
Three other projects are in the early stages, with no dollar value yet announced:
• Kaleida Health is planning a new Northtowns service hub at 6009 Transit Road in Lockport, formerly home to David Cadillac GMC dealership. The $2.2 billion health system plans to centralize operations with hubs in the Southtowns and Northtowns, in addition to its existing operations in downtown Buffalo. Leasing the site on Transit Road gives Kaleida a centralized location to serve residents in Eastern Niagara County as well as northern Erie County communities of East Amherst and Clarence.
• Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center will transform its auditorium into the Scott Bieler Family Foundation Innovation & Training Center with a grant donation from Scott Bieler, president & CEO of the West Herr Automotive Group. The center will provide ongoing education, orientation and professional development for nursing and clinical staff at the hospital. The project is being managed by Montante Construction.
• Recovery Options Made Easy is planning a new crisis center at 51 Glasgow Ave. in Jamestown, less than a mile from UPMC Chautauqua. The agency is leasing a 5,400-square-foot wing on the third floor of the former hospital, where it will provide voluntary crisis support, recovery-oriented services and hospital diversion. The building also houses the Jones Memorial Health Center and UPMC’s outpatient clinic and substance use disorder supported housing programs. ROME opened a crisis center in Buffalo in the Fruit Belt neighborhood last year.