Jump to content

Baylor St. Lukes McNair Campus & Health Sciences Park


Lulleah

Recommended Posts

On 11/16/2019 at 3:48 PM, ekdrm2d1 said:

More equipment on site. A crane company was also at the site. That electrical panel is also new.

 

Possibly related to the COH OST improvements.

 

pR02t17.jpg

 

bNjFOYN.jpg

 

Any idea of the improvements the COH has planned for OST?

Edited by ekadams3030
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

From Costar:

 

The Texas Medical Center area is about to get denser with a new $426 million medical tower slated to rise near the quickly growing healthcare district.

 

Baylor St. Luke's has started site preparation work for a 400,000-square-foot medical tower at its McNair Campus, across from the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, said Vanessa Astros, a spokeswoman for Baylor St. Luke's.

 

The 12-story tower will be the new home of several facilities for the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, a joint venture between the nonprofits Baylor College of Medicine and CHI St. Luke’s Health.

 

The new tower adds to ongoing changes around the world’s largest medical center, where more than 106,000 employees work across 50 million square feet of space, according to the Texas Medical Center website. There are $3 billion worth of construction projects underway in the Texas Medical Center, according to the website, spurring growth in commercial real estate for the surrounding areas as this major employment hub continues to expand.

 

Baylor St. Luke’s new tower is slated for a site adjacent to the future TMC3, the proposed 37-acre biomedical research campus with multiple buildings and parks designed to be shaped like a DNA strand.

 

The new Baylor St. Luke's project does not yet have an exact address, Astros said. For now though, planners are using 7200 Cambridge St., the general address for the McNair Campus, which is north of Old Spanish Trail and west of Cambridge Street.

 

Baylor St. Luke's has been developing the 35-acre McNair Campus over the past several years since forming a joint venture in 2014 and then selling the historic O’Quinn Medical Tower at 6624 Fannin St. to Texas Children’s Hospital in 2016. That tower was renamed Fannin Tower in early 2017, according to a spokeswoman for Texas Children’s. Developed by Hines, the 1990s-era tower is recognizable for its two spires resembling a pair of hypodermic needles.

 

Since selling that tower, Baylor St. Luke's has gradually relocated some of its services to the new campus about 1.3 miles away. The campus, a 650-bed academic medical center, already is home to two healthcare buildings: the Lee and Joe Jamail Specialty Care Center at 1977 Butler Blvd., and the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center building at 7200 Cambridge St.

 

Baylor St. Luke's will bestow the former name of its original home, O’Quinn Medical Tower, onto the newly constructed 12-story facility, Astros said. The name is after late Houston attorney John O'Quinn in recognition of his $25 million gift to the hospital.

 

With construction of the new tower, Baylor St. Luke's plans to relocate the remaining services from the former tower on Fannin Street and expand other services. The tower will house multiple outpatient services including radiology, endoscopy and an ambulatory surgery center. The building will also be the new home to the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, which was ranked among the top 50 cancer hospital programs in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

 

Construction is slated to start in May on the project, estimated to cost $426 million, according to Astros. The 427,000-square-foot facility will have an 8-story parking garage, along with new private roads and sidewalks, according to initial permitting documents filed with the state.

 

The healthcare joint venture said in 2016 that the McNair Campus would eventually encompass $1.1 billion worth of capital improvements but it is possible those initial plans have changed. More details of campus plans are expected to be released later this year.

 

Baylor College of Medicine is one of the founding institutions behind TMC3, along with the Texas Medical Center, Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The institutions are collaborating to build the expansive medical research campus to include shops, restaurants, residences, office, parks and plazas.

 

About 5,000 square feet of office space is under construction in the Texas Medical Center area, which has a vacancy rate of 6.1%, one of the lowest rates among markets in the greater Houston area, according to CoStar analysts.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

TMC's monetary orientation (in 2017 the State Senate got upset at them for seeking to extend tax exemption to purely private for-profit land leases) means that the innovation flagship TMC3 is going to be looking to the participating institutions for a whole lot of funding.

If TMC3's costs were to go up by the time it opens, would TMC plan on passing some of that increase on to the participating institutions?  I don't know, but having McNair Campus next door (across Staffordshire, but broadside for the length of both campuses) means that Baylor St. Luke's will already enjoy close proximity to the facility even if it isn't onboard -- which is not true of the other participants.  

 

Colorado-based CHI promised to contribute over $1 billion toward an Episcopal health foundation when it acquired St. Luke's in 2013.  It took on too much debt to expand (within five years its bond rating dropped five notches from Aa2 to Baa1) and it has since merged with another Catholic hospital group and decided to move their administration to Chicago.

 

Instead of investing in both the central and McNair Campuses, as originally planned, it was then decided that the old complex along Bertner will be left behind by CHI when they move the Duncan Cancer Center, the medical center, and ultimately the Texas Heart Institute to the McNair Campus.

 

If TCH, Methodist, and UTMDACC are interested in purchasing some or all of those older buildings adjacent to them, and the Catholic group could defray its costs with a sale, then I wonder whether TCH and MDA can reach an agreement to extend the MDA skybridge level across Bertner and along the north side of Bates Avenue.  

 

Because if they found a mutually agreeable way to connect to TCH Feigin Tower (the center for their pediatric cancer research, so not out of place) and cross Holcombe to the Mays Clinic complex, then there would be a complete circuit for MDA's patients and workers to circulate -- something most of them have wanted for as long as there has been a Mays Clinic.  Plus the Prudential teardown land would then no longer be so far by skybridge from the Main Building.

Edited by strickn
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Baylor McNair Campus Expansion
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
13 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

Banner has been posted at the site. A paving permit was issued and they also used the name O'Quinn Medical Tower. Weird placement, pretty sure they are speaking about the tower on Fannin?

 


The tower on Fannin is no longer named O'Quinn.  It is now 6624 Fannin.  The new building here on the McNair Campus will now be the O'Quinn Medical Tower.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...