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According to the Chron, BCM has decided to go it alone. (For now.)

Good. First, BCM needs to find a permanent President, then someone (perhaps, acting BCM President Butler or TMC Presidnt Wainerdi) needs to lead a discussion between that President and another TCM Head.

TMH's Girotto appears to have been as much a part of the Methodist-Baylor split as Traber, so there are probably some seriously bad feelings there. Besides, TCM is putting the final touches on its research institute. This and the global focus of tertiary care centers, might make their 50-year contract affiliation with Weill Cornell more strong and rigid than it has appeared in the first few years of the affiliation.

SLEH/THI might be a good partner for BCM. They have teaching contracts with UTHSC and BCM, but no comprehensive affiliation. They had a fast, damaged relationship when Traber was BCM President. Traber's gone and there's a new Bishop on their Board. Things could move here.

In the meantime, BCM should put the south campus hospital up for sale....as is. They need the cash. I'm not sure who would buy it. There are always physicians who think they can run a hospital. Also, HCA is lacking a comprehensive TMC presence. If that plot is actually TMC land, however, neither buy would fly as TCM bylaws require that member instituions located on their campus must be not-for-profit.

As I have posted earlier, BCM, TMH, and SLEH should look at a comprehensive affiliation/merger. It was discussed 15 years ago, but never happened. I think all three would be good for each other.

I guess we shall see. It's all so soap operatic at some level.rolleyes.gif

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In the meantime, BCM should put the south campus hospital up for sale....as is. They need the cash. I'm not sure who would buy it. There are always physicians who think they can run a hospital. Also, HCA is lacking a comprehensive TMC presence. If that plot is actually TMC land, however, neither buy would fly as TCM bylaws require that member instituions located on their campus must be not-for-profit.

It took a long, LONG time for University General Hospital to sign as a tenant for the building at Fannin & Knight after a big name (possibly BCM) backed out of a long-term lease back in 2005-ish. I think that the wait may have even bankrupted the original developer. Office, medical office, and lab buildings in the TMC not built for a proprietary user are just like that. That's also why Lyme Properties backed out of a deal on Holcombe and why it took Metrontario so long to meet pre-leasing requirements before they could kick off their project, also on Holcombe.

If BCM is so desperately in need of cash that it needs to dump this new facility into the private sector, then they're really in for a world of hurt. HCA would be the only user I can think of without a new market entrant from out of town showing up...but do you think that a for-profit non-boutique hospital can be competitive in the TMC?

Do you think that it'd be wishful thinking to hope that an entity like Mayo Clinic could come to the rescue?

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Do you think that it'd be wishful thinking to hope that an entity like Mayo Clinic could come to the rescue?

Yes. Mayo and also Cleveland Clinic have much more international aspirations.

HCA is in this private equity deal right now. Healthcare is growing, but leverage is not worth what it was a few years ago. I think they have a good business structure overall. It will be interesting to see what kind of "play" they have when (and if) they roll out of their private structure.

Still, does anybody know who owns the BCM Hospital Land? BCM or TMC? That is critical component of what flexibility any sale deal has.

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Still, does anybody know who owns the BCM Hospital Land? BCM or TMC? That is critical component of what flexibility any sale deal has.

I'm thinking that that's not going to be an issue. It's not part of the original campus, not unlike the strip of land between Fannin and Main, where for-profit activity is allowed. Even if TMC, Inc. owns the land or somehow is a party to a deed covenant that'd prevent for-profit users, TMC, Inc. and BCM would probably come to an agreement that would undo deed covenants in order to prevent the bankruptcy or an impairment of function of BCM as a TMC member institution.

I know that state law does provide for that possibility. For instance, some old oilfields that were sold decades ago by companies that are now ExxonMobil used to have deed restrictions against their development in order to limit environmental liabilities that might've arisen from future legislation regarding substances that weren't yet defined as pollutants. But in recent years, private developers have successfully negotiated with XOM to modify some of those deed covenants...but only for commercial development exclusive of residential. So it can be done...probably just as long as it isn't on the original TMC campus.

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I'm thinking that that's not going to be an issue. It's not part of the original campus, not unlike the strip of land between Fannin and Main, where for-profit activity is allowed. Even if TMC, Inc. owns the land or somehow is a party to a deed covenant that'd prevent for-profit users, TMC, Inc. and BCM would probably come to an agreement that would undo deed covenants in order to prevent the bankruptcy or an impairment of function of BCM as a TMC member institution.

There are different covenants to different sections of the TMC. And much of that Fannin-Main strip is actually owned by the individual intituions. (I'm not sure which, because the maps I've seen do not differentiate between ownership and leaseholds). I've tried looking it up, but cannot get a determination.

In the meantime the Chron is reporting that BCM Bonds are on the S&P watch list.

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  • 1 month later...

I don't trust these rating agencies anymore. If they're downgrading it it means they have a plan in mind.

Agreed, N Judah.

Possibly off-topic, Waco Baylor has been given a significant anonymous bequest / estate provision devoted wholly to benefit medical research now.

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  • 1 year later...

TMH's Girotto appears to have been as much a part of the Methodist-Baylor split as Traber, so there are probably some seriously bad feelings there.

Now that Girotto is stepping down and Klotman is in at Baylor - any chance of a rapprochement?

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Now that Girotto is stepping down and Klotman is in at Baylor - any chance of a rapprochement?

Better congeniality? Yes. Full-on affiliation? I would doubt it.

There were some progenitors of the split on the BCM and TMH boards, too. I believe some of those people still serve as trustees.

Also, 7 or 8 years have passed now. Each institution has built new political structures in their various departments. That would be a major barrier to re-affiliation.

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  • 1 year later...

It has almost been 7 years, I was wondering did the predictions come true ? Is the medical center one of the top 10 business districts? Did the recession stall the medical centers development ? What do you all think about the future of the medical center, will there be another boom in development ?

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  • 5 months later...

Unless a pension plague keeps the Baby Boom from reaching old age, anticipate that there will be another boom in development, yes.

 

http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/facts-and-figures/ says that total square footage has risen to round about 46 million square feet from what was reported as 29.6 million gross square feet in 2008, which if true would mean adding 8% new facilities (compounded, mind you) every year during the recession.

 

Reports that recorded the TMC as nearing, or among, the top ten business districts ...were exaggerations.  They were comparing our gross square footage to other districts' office - and sometimes only Class A office - square footage.  

 

The typical quote, "As of October 2009, TMC’s 31 million square feet of space made it the 12th largest downtown business district in the U.S. – larger than downtown Los Angeles,13gets by on this.  

 

For what it's worth, our South Main office submarket has enough private lease space to nudge us over the fifty million mark even if the Med Center is including (and it sounds like it is, from the "all campuses" caveat) TMC West, out in Katy, in its figure.

 

But had they bothered to compare the other land uses in the densest 1,345 acres (2.1 square miles) of central Los Angeles, which would be an apples-to-apples comparison with the Med Center's stated acreage, forget about it.  That is, when you even begin to look around with not just office-leased in mind, then there are plenty of places above 50 Msf in the United States, even if you confine that to equal land areas with the Med Center.  

 

2.1 square miles gives you almost twenty eruptions of buildings over 100 million square feet.  Doesn't get to Texas  ...in fact the clusters would bore you since so many're in New York.

 

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  • 2 years later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'm looking at HistoricAerials,com  maps from 1973, and earlier (sixties). Its hard to tell, but directly across Holcombe, south of the main entrance, there may have been a few scattered houses. I'm also seeing an actual plotted neighborhood,too, but that's across Brays Bayou. 

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  • 3 years later...
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  • 3 weeks later...

https://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/md-anderson-to-expand-proton-therapy-center-.h00-159305412.html?cmpid=fb_proton_newsroom

 

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center unveiled plans to expand its Proton Therapy Center during a groundbreaking ceremony. The expansion will more than double the center’s size to more than 160,000 square feet – almost the size of three football fields – allowing more patients greater access to the most advanced and precise form of radiation therapy.

 

The estimated completion of the new building is Nov. 2023. The $159 million expansion will be led by Gilbane Building Company and will increase the center size to include a total of eight radiation therapy machines that rotate 360 degrees around a patient to deliver a proton beam to the exact area intended for treatment. The new machines, developed by Hitachi, will deliver intensity-modulated proton therapy, the most precise form of image-guided radiation therapy available. The expansion also will include an additional synchrotron, the massive accelerator that creates the proton beam, as well as rooms with improved design for a better patient experience.

 

1565208152214.jpg

 

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https://www.gilbaneco.com/project/md-anderson-cancer-center-proton-therapy-center-no-2-gilbane-building-company/
 

Quote

 

Gilbane Building Company has been selected by MD Anderson for construction manager at-risk services for the Proton Therapy Center No. 2 project. This project is a free-standing addition to the existing proton therapy center which was built in 2004.

 

The Proton Therapy Center No. 2 will be approximately 110,000 SF once completed and is predominately a four-vault concrete structure with an attached structural steel clinical area and will be located adjacent to the existing Proton Therapy Center, with a service driveway separating the facilities at street level and a skybridge connecting the facilities.

The new project will construct four new gantries for Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) and will include the installation of new Hitachi equipment with the first gantry coming online within 19 months after the start of installation. The existing Proton Therapy Center will remain in operation throughout the project, requiring a coordinated effort to tie-in the future skybridge as well as utility connections, to minimize disruption to the existing facility.

 

With extensive experience in cancer center construction, working with over 50% of the nation’s top 20 cancer hospitals, Gilbane is positioned and uniquely qualified to deliver the highest quality proton therapy treatment facility for MD Anderson Cancer Center.

 

Quick Stats

Client Name: MD Anderson Cancer Center

Project Name: Proton Therapy Center No. 2

Location: Houston, TX

Architect: Stantec

Size: 110,000 SF

Date Completed: In Progress

Type of construction: New

Delivery method: CM at Risk/GMP

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/8/2019 at 9:21 AM, Purdueenginerd said:

I'm just picturing a lab room full of Proton Packs from Ghostbusters and a big danger sign that says "Warning! Dont Cross the streams!" 

Proton therapy is just about that cool. They start with water, split it into hydrogen and oxygen, then vent the oxygen. The hydrogen has the electrons stripped, leaving protons, which are fed into a cyclotron to increase the energy. Once the energy levels are achieved, the stream  of protons is sent down a wave guide to the treatment rooms.

 

The treatment rooms are pretty industrial, with a rotating gantry that carries the mechanism that sends the protons into the patient and a metal "bed" that the patient lays on. The patient bed rotates. Between the gantry and the bed, the right angles are created to treat the desired area.

 

I had 30 proton treatments a few years ago, so I've seen most the current MDA proton center facilities. Treatment is in the basement, with lots of thick walls and right angles.

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