Texas Medical Center Skyline Update

[WestGrayGuy]

The largest medical district in the world is planning on doubling in the next 50 years. Here is a link to master plan.

TMC Master Plan

Have a look.

[SpaceCity]

TMC is already huge. I couldn't imagine it being twice that size.

I thought doctors and hospitals were losing their shirts because of the evil trial lawyers.

[UrbaNerd]

Yeah, there is a massive need for nurses. The TMC seems to be the fastest growing district in HOU so far, with several buildings popping up every year, and many more planned. I love it.

Oh, and about it doubling in size- if anyone has seen the Channel 11 report from a few weeks ago, they said that they might even expand into midtown, and towards other areas.

[suzerain]

I know at the very least they are in talks with the reserve bases on OST to get that property and expand along there. It is part of the deal of moving those reserve bases to Ellingtion in an effort to keep Texas bases from being closed down

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

Live surgical series new Internet reality show

Memorial Hermann Hospital officials are using the Internet to display the skills of their doctors.

And as an added benefit, video-streaming operations appear to be paying off in the way of increased interest from prospective patients.

This week, the hospital system hosted a live Webcast of Dr. Hazim J. Safi, chairman of the department of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery for The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, performing thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair surgery.

During the complex procedure, the patient "is almost literally cut in half," according to Memorial Hermann spokeswoman Jamie O'Roark.

Dr. Steve Allen, medical director for Memorial Hermann, served as the online moderator during the program, which is the first of a series.

He received e-mailed questions from viewers and relayed them to Safi during the surgery, who continues to answer e-mailed questions for one week following the procedure.

Putting procedures live on the Internet provides continuing medical education for doctors and helps raise consumer awareness, says O'Roark.

An element of on-line marketing is also evident.

Before the surgery was even performed, the hospital received several e-mails from people "asking for more information or to make an appointment with the doctor," says O'Roark.

Queries came from various states, including Louisiana, Connecticut, Iowa and North Carolina.

"We're hoping this is an excellent way to get our message out further and beyond the Houston area," O'Roark says. - Mary Ann Azevedo

[Montrose1100]

What words to describe the feeling you get when Doctors of a major hospital broadcast there surgery, online...

[ricco67]

LOL.

The words that come to mind are the malpractice insurers saying, "PLEASE don't screw up!"

I never thought of it as a marketing ploy, but I can see the advantages of doing so. It can also have the benifits of perhaps showing the realities of surgery and then maybe pursuading (or not) kids/grads into that direction.

Ricco

[houstonsemipro]

Up Close: Amazing transformations in the ever-growing medical center

10:04 PM CST on Tuesday, January 18, 2005

By Dan Lauck / 11 News

It may seem with all the construction, you need to be a brain surgeon to navigate your way in and out of the Texas Medical Center these days.

KHOU-TV

The Texas Medical Center is already two to three times larger than any other medical center in the world.

With the building blocks of a new era in medicine, the area is going through an amazing transformation.

At MD Anderson Cancer Center it was a day to celebrate, a day to remember. Not because Judy Jordan had beaten cancer, but because she'd never had cancer and was at the prevention center anyway.

This was the day that MD Anderson opened the doors of its new, $110 million cancer prevention center. Judy Jordan was their first patient.

"The idea that we'd have a building that was dedicated strictly to prevention was a dream I never thought I'd see," Dr. Bernard Levin said.

If you're a doctor or medical researcher, the Texas Medical Center is the place to be.

The Texas Medical Center is a tangle of traffic and trains, of overhead skyways and crowded walkways, an ever-changing, regenerating kind of medical invertebrate, part hassle, part charm.

"If you're to attract the best and the brightest, which really is our objective, they don't want to spend their time driving around from a hospital here, a teaching facility there, a research laboratory over there," said Andrew Icken, Texas Medical Center executive vice president.

The challenge for Andrew Icken and Paul Sanders is to create an environment dense enough to satisfy the doctors, but not too intimidating to the average patient.

They have accomplished the density. It's comparable to lower Manhattan or downtown Chicago and it's growing every day.

Memorial Hermann, for example, is putting up two buildings along Fannin.

Both Prairie View's nursing school and Texas Women's University are building new homes.

The University of Texas Health Science Center is rebuilding both its medical and nursing school and UT is already underway on the Institute of Molecular Medicine.

But no one has been as busy as Susan Lipka of MD Anderson.

"Let's see, one, two, three, four, five. Five buildings," Lipka said. Which would mean a building being built each year.

The same day they opened the cancer prevention center, they also opened the ambulatory care center, a huge, imposing building next door.

When done, there will be five new buildings at a cost of nearly $1 billion.

"In our case, the baby boom population is coming of an age when cancer is a disease that you get in that age group," said Lipka.

With the forerunners of the baby boom turning 60, the construction has no end in sight.

They couldn't expand to the north or west, but they were lucky to the south. There were nearly 400 acres with mostly tract homes and small apartment buildings, which is nothing they couldn't afford.

Almost all of the property in the area they are calling 'mid-campus' has been purchased and should take 20 years to fill.

"But that doesn't mean that later on, it won't expand down to the 610 loop," said Lipka.

This boom comes at a time when health care costs are racing wildly ahead of the ability of Americans to pay for them. And according to Lipka, "That was always on our minds."

She points out they used carpet, rather than terrazzo tile and precast concrete, rather than granite, which doesn't matter one bit to patients like Judy Jordan. What matters is that they have a home.

The Texas Medical Center is already two to three times larger than any other medical center in the world.

[Talbot]

Awesome article. TMC has so much potential.

[pineda]

story in today's chron.com

Quote from the story, in the category of what the hell did he just say?

"There are absolute pockets of excellence in our midst," said Robert Mosbacher Jr., chairman of the Harris County Public Health Care System Council.

[713 To 214]

What good does it do to tout Houston's Medical Center when the quality of care received there sucks compared to the rest of the nation?

[RedScare]

713/214, it was not the Texas Medical Center that the article was trashing. It was all the rest of the hospitals that suck. In other words, if you are rich, you go to TMC. If not, you go somewhere else and get mediocre (or worse) care.

I have to admit, I thought the care for pneumonia was funny (it doesn't get cold here. What do we care about pneumonia!), even though I know that cold is not a cause.

[HeightsGuy]

713 to 214, Boston is ranked 30th when it comes to pneunmonia. Using your line of reasoning, does that mean Harvard Medical Center sucks too?

Some statistics are better left to experts to decipher, and I believe this is true here.

Many statistics on hospitals are dubious unless you dig a little further. For example, MD Anderson has a high death rate when compared to other hospitals. Sounds shocking since it's a world-renowned hospital until you consider its area of excellence is treating cancer. People around the world with nothing left to lose go there as a last hope. [Edit] When you treat the sickest of the sick (as the med center does), of course the statistics are going to show you in a bad light unless you dig deeper. [Edit]

Lastly, since you're post seems to be more a dig on Houston than anything else, I'll add that now you're in Dallas, maybe you should be more concerned with the rate of complications in cosmetic surgery and leave the real medicine to us.

[kjb434]

^^^

LOL

Good point HeightGuy.

I always stress to never take a study whether on environment, traffic, etc seriously. Statistics need to be left to the people who know what they are doing.

I took some courses in it and my proffessor had two books on how to lie and mislead with statistics. Works great at debunking many of theses silly studies.

[MidtownCoog]

"There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics."

[tierwestah]

What good does it do to tout Houston's Medical Center when the quality of care received there sucks compared to the rest of the nation?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It sounds like every comment you make regarding Houston seems as if you got some type of personal bias against Houston. What's your problem Chief?

[banking214]

"There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL.

I am going to have to remember that.

[InnerLoopOnly]

It sounds like every comment you make regarding Houston seems as if you got some type of personal bias against Houston. What's your problem Chief?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It seems every post this poster makes is a post that trashes Houston. He is a troll, nothing more, nothing less.

[Guest danax]

713 to 214 has his opinions as we all do, regardless of where he might come from. Please let's not turn this into another cross-state firefight.

[InnerLoopOnly]

Sure he has opinions. I have opinions as well. I even say non flattering things about Houston often. But I try to offer solutions to the problems that I see. That is because I wish Houston to be the best city it can be. This particular poster only offers up what he sees as wrong with our city. To further add insult to injury he goes on to claim the superiority of his own city. I don't care about Dallas. I don't love it or hate it. I enjoy visiting it to see friends and family. However I don't need to be told that my city sucks and his city is so wonderful. THAT is why I call him a troll.

[713 To 214]

Some statistics are better left to experts to decipher, and I believe this is true here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I always stress to never take a study whether on environment, traffic, etc seriously. Statistics need to be left to the people who know what they are doing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can't wait to cite these statements on every other thread wherein statistics are used to tout Houston's "superiority."

Please remember you stated this! You can't have your cake, and eat it too. In other words, you can't prop up ONLY the studies that show Houston in a favorable light, while at the same time discounting the studies that show Houston's weaknesses.

[713 To 214]

713 to 214 has his opinions as we all do, regardless of where he might come from. Please let's not turn this into another cross-state firefight.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank's for being mature enough to, at least, accept this fact.

[713 To 214]

Sure he has opinions.

[HeightsGuy]

Read what I said 713_to_214, I said "some" statistics are better left to experts to decifer, not "all".

Since you believe this study shows how bad the med center is, why don't you tell us the reasons you believe this study shows a weakness in Houston's hospitals?

[InnerLoopOnly]

[Kirzania]

Come on, everyone! If he doesn't set off the Troll-O-Meter, we're going to have to get him to run around with a big blinking sign saying

[Subdude]

713 to 214 has his opinions as we all do, regardless of where he might come from. Please let's not turn this into another cross-state firefight.

To reiterate the point here, argue on the facts rather than just flaming other members please.

[HeightsGuy]

Like I said, some statistics are better left to experts to decipher, and I believe the hospital study cited at the beginning is one of them, but the below study on immunization rates is a dfferent story. Unlike a study that takes samples of data that is volunteered, this one is cold stark numbers:

For 2004, city rates near bottom in baseline shots for toddlers in urban areas

713 to 214, if you want to talk about something health-wise not going good in Houston, here's your chance.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

According to my wife, there's an Urban Lofts sign on the corner bounded by SH 288, Yellowstone, and Ardmore (on the west side of 288).

Anyone know anything about this?

As much as I despise the Urban Lofts on Calumet, I think they'd be a good addition to this particular area. It's mostly an industrial area right now, with a few commercial places mixed in. I'm all for some additional residential in our area.

Eventually I'd like to see Yellowstone east of 288 becoming a commercial/retail strip. Right now it's a mix of vacant land and industrial areas (many of which are also vacant). It's ripe for development.

[citykid09]

Whould that be these: http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...wtopic=3295&hl=

[Original Timmy Chan's]

Nope...keep going down Almeda a few blocks.

This would be just east of the intersection of OST and Almeda.

Just a block down Yellowstone from the fabulous wonderful amazingness that is Guy's Meat Market.

[Guest danax]

You've got to hand it to Urban Lofts to be quick to jump on that area. With the new high rises about to, hopefully, start piling up around there it looks like a no-brainer.

Then, it will be interesting to see when the east side of 288, south of Old Spanish, starts to redevelop. Nice location and there might be little organized neighborhood resistance to replatting and mass townhousing. The east is obviously where the cheap land is and the demand for affordable inner-loop density is not likely to slow down soon, if ever. Once a few pioneering builders start in, it could be a fairly quick conquest.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

You've got to hand it to Urban Lofts to be quick to jump on that area. With the new high rises about to, hopefully, start piling up around there it looks like a no-brainer.

Then, it will be interesting to see when the east side of 288, south of Old Spanish, starts to redevelop. Nice location and there might be little organized neighborhood resistance to replatting and mass townhousing. The east is obviously where the cheap land is and the demand for affordable inner-loop density is not likely to slow down soon, if ever. Once a few pioneering builders start in, it could be a fairly quick conquest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you see anything south of OST and east of 288, it'll be the area generally bounded by 288, OST, Corder and Tierwester. That area is a mix of some industrial and some residential and a lot of vacant land. East of Tierwester you've got Scott Terrace and LaSalette Place, which are nice, well-maintained middle-class neighborhoods. They aren't going anywhere...and there would be major opposition to any developer trying to get townhomes into that neighborhood. Besides, townhome development isn't appropriate to that area. There's enough vacant or near-vacant land nearby for denser development to occur.

New homes are being built all through South Union and Foster Place (generally the areas south of Yellowstone and north of 610, all the way over to Cullen). They are generally modest 1500 - 2000 sf homes. They are definitely welcome additions to the neighborhood. I see the neighborhood staying a low- to moderate-income area of single-family residential, nothing more, nothing less.

The area around OST and Scott is improving. Lots of commercial development is going in around the intersection (a lot of strip centers, but it's investment nonetheless). Washington Mutual just moved in at LaSalette and OST.

A new assisted living center is under construction at Corder and OST. Scott south of Yellowstone is slow to improve, but it's made minor improvements over the last few years.

[YakuzaIce]

Just wondering did your wife see anything else on the sign? LIke a rendering or any info? Or did it just say Urban Lofts coming soon, or something like that? I will try to head over there in a few days.

[Guest danax]

Just wondering did your wife see anything else on the sign?  LIke a rendering or any info?  Or did it just say Urban Lofts coming soon, or something like that?  I will try to head over there in a few days.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I drove by there on the way home and it's just a generic Urban Lofts, or maybe Urban Living sign, I'm assuming, as I drove by fairly fast.

It's right on the freeway and no trees! That's the trouble with new housing in formerly industrial settings, you get the "desert look".Fairly good sized lot though. Guess Urban Lofts knows what they're doing by now.

Timmy, you're right about west of Tierwester. The neighborhood there looks scattered and broken and ready for change but east of there, near Yellowstone and Scott, it's the typical Houston 1950s middle-class boxes in decent shape. Nice mature street trees too.

I think you're right that a lot of that area where the new, affordable housing is going up will just be a 21st century version of what it's always been; lower-middle class. However, as times progresses and developers start running out of inner-loop lots, they'll start moving over there and the townhouse clusters are bound to infiltrate more and more and will create a mixture of dense and suburban; semi-dense? A few new houses here and there, some old ones still lurking, some townhomes; sounds like Houston to me.

[4thWardBoy]

Urban Lofts has cajones. They've built in areas where I would never consider living in, at least not yet, including deep 3rd ward, and DEEP 4th ward which is an area I would not be comfortable walking around in at night. We stay in on the far east side of 4th Ward surrounded by dozens of other Urban Loft dwellers.

[bigboyz2004]

Will the skylines of Downtown Houston and Texas Medical Center ever connect or at least grow very close to each other?

[VicMan]

Unless Midtown gets a lot of high rises, I doubt it. The Medical Center and Downtown are separated by Hermann Park, the Museum District, and Midtown.

[Guest danax]

Will the skylines of Downtown Houston and Texas Medical Center ever connect or at least grow very close to each other?

It could be said that they already connect, since there's very little open land in between the two clusters, it's just a question of rooftop levels and the inevitable densification of that area will likely "raise the roof", resulting in waves of constuction at certain heights until, at some point, it will look like one skyline; Downtown being the peak with the Midtown valley then the next, lower peak of the Med Cntr, like a hammock slung between two trees.

We can just look at other cities around the country where growth is not restricted to see this happening. Places where land is at a premium, like in Oakland and the Bay Area in general in CA, are seeing more and more mid-rise and high-rise condo projects popping up on city blocks where there used to be car lots and grocery stores. A couple of articles that refer to this are here and here. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Oakland and I recognize some of the neighborhoods and, believe me, they were nothing special, just like many similar Houston locations. Places like Almeda are already on the way up. How long will Third Ward remain run down single-family once the rail runs through it or for how many decades will Shepherd/Durham remain dotted with cheesy car lots, for example?

And, as we tend to sometimes think the Downtown skyline is a done deal, there will always be a need from time to time for new office space, and, as is happening in Oakland, the residential developers will start competing with the office space developers for land to build on, and when they run out of land they will have to start redeveloping some of their older buildings, or demolish and expand upwards or start searching outwards. As we hope will eventually happen here, both types of developers there are trying to be close to the BART rapid transit stations or lines, so with Midtown set to be Metrorail hub soon, its future is bound to be as a mixed-use mini metropolis. Lay the rail and watch the skyline around them change, slowly.

It's exciting to ponder this area's future and, although we often fret the slow pace and failed projects, the big picture would indicate that Midtown and inner-loop Houston have nowhere to go but up.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

I noticed last week that site work has commenced on this piece of property. Granted, I did a "55-mph-driveby-inspection", but it looks like they've got their contractor mobilized and some storm pipe on site.

I'm also interested to see the new 5-story apartment complex going up just south of Urban Lofts, between Ardmore and 288...the one with the massive parking garage. So far it looks pretty uninspiring...

[tigereye]

Here

[Parrothead]

Hi, just a question...does your new job pay you a subsidy? Most TMC employers offer at least something to employees. MD Anderson is the worst about this (my husband works for them), but they still give $30 a month to assist with parking expenses or bus/train fare.

The only park-n-rides that go directly to the medical center are METRO's 292, 297, & 298. None of those go to the Kuykendahl lot, unfortunately. Texas' largest employer and you really only have three direct routes there. It's a damned shame.

The closest direct park-n-ride is actually The Woodlands Express. It goes from Rayford/Sawdust Rd (just n. of FM 2920) to TMC.

Other than that, you can take any of the park-n-rides from the Spring Lot or Kuyukendahl Lot downtown with a transfer to the train. It will take you a little over an hour to get to work that way.

Good luck and congratulations on your new job!

[tigereye]

Thanx for the info....

[houstonsemipro]

Finding health care closer to home

More hospitals outside the Loop expanding to meet a growing need

Houston can claim the world-renowned Texas Medical Center as its own.

But for all the good the center provides for patients from around the world, people in the Houston area are finding they'd rather avoid the mazelike complex and parking fees.

Many are turning to suburban hospitals for their medical needs. Officials with major hospital systems are taking note and expanding services outside the Medical Center and the Houston area.

Nearly 30 hospitals are undergoing expansions or renovations, and 10 new hospitals are being built to meet the demands of a growing population, according to a 2005-06 facility construction report by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

"We're probably in the most intense period of reconstruction. We have a lot of facilities around America that have simply reached the end of their useful life," said Rick Wade, senior vice president for the American Hospital Association.

Wade also noted that many of the older hospitals are no longer in the hub of the community. With more and more people commuting longer distances to work, the demand for hospitals and medical care in the suburbs has increased.

Nowhere is the population growth and hospital demand more evident than in Fort Bend County, which borders Houston on the southwest.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in November, Deforis Dolford maneuvered her way to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the Texas Medical Center for testing and soon found she could receive her post-surgical care at the cancer center's satellite facility in Fort Bend County.

"When I went to M.D. Anderson, they asked me where I lived, and I told them Missouri City. They asked me did I want to go to the facility in Richmond, which would be closer. I said, 'Yes,' and I did," Dolford said. "It was less traffic, no parking garage, you didn't have to pay to park. It was less waiting. The people were just wonderful. To me, it was worth it."

Specialized treatment

For 33 days, Dolford drove herself to OakBend Medical Center in Richmond for radiation therapy. The drive was minutes from her third-grade teaching job at Glover Elementary School in Missouri City. Having the radiation treatment in Richmond allowed Dolford to miss only about 20 minutes of work each school day.

Mitch Latinkic, administrator for the division of radiation oncology at M.D. Anderson, said convenience and accessibility are two factors the cancer center took into consideration when deciding to open satellite locations around Houston.

M.D. Anderson now offers radiation therapy in Richmond, Lake Jackson, Bellaire and The Woodlands and soon will offer it in Katy and Nassau Bay. Patients that require more intensive care such as chemotherapy still have to go to the Texas Medical Center.

Latinkic said physicians who staff the Radiation Oncology satellites are all trainees of the M.D. Anderson Division of Radiation Oncology resident program. Other health professionals such as therapists, nurses, and medical dosimetrists (specialists who calculate radiation doses) have similarly worked and trained at the main campus and are placed in satellite facilities based on their individual preferences and interests, Latinkic said.

"This ensures quality of care across our satellite practices that are consistent with our main campus," Latinkic said.

Aside from M.D. Anderson, another hospital system establishing a presence in Fort Bend County is the Memorial Hermann Hospital System, which is building a $94 million hospital and adjacent medical office building to replace Memorial Hermann Fort Bend Hospital.

The new 220,000-square-foot hospital

[bachanon]

to add to this, we have had several positive experiences with memorial hermann's location here in the woodlands. quality above quantity is the norm. we are so fortunate to have these facilities here, rather than to have to go to the medical center. positive experiences include the emergency room for heart issues and the sleep clinic. when my mom went in because she was having heart attack symptoms (turned out to be stress) a person in the ER asked her what made her feel calm and she said nature, the forest..........when she awoke in the intensive care unit the (exchangeable) lit panel above her head was as if she were laying down in the forest. she immediately remembered the conversation she had in the emergency room. groovy!

[dbigtex56]

That is cool, bachanon. Thanks for telling us.

If I'm ever in that position, I'll be sure to tell them that handsome naked men make me feel calm

[bachanon]

yur funny.

[texas911]

Yea the regionals are fine, but its nice to have the big boys available for the serious stuff.

[editor]

What's the source of this article?

[MidtownCoog]

I think this was in the Sunday's before last's Chronicle.

Have fun with your regionals. I am sticking with the Texas Medical Center.