Penrose-St. Francis nixes planned west-side Springs expansion to follow growth north (Colorado Springs: neighborhood, purchasing)

[Vision67]

Follow the money

https://gazette.com/premium/penrose-...d8f5c80ea.html

"Penrose-St. Francis Health Services is abandoning its plans for a new massive hospital tower on Colorado Springs’ west side in favor of a move up north.

Penrose-St. Francis President and CEO Dr. Brian Erling said the decision came down to an undeniable fact — following the city’s growth up north meant being able to attract more patients.

Moving west did not.

The hospital system is in the final stages of purchasing 60 acres of land along Interstate 25 in northern Colorado Springs for a third hospital campus.

And it plans to completely renovate its Penrose Hospital campus north of downtown, while further growing its St. Francis Medical Center on the city’s northeast side, beyond a current expansion project that is nearing completion.

The $750-million plan represents a 180-degree reversal from a course set more than three years ago, forcing it to backtrack on a $10 million land deal and scrap years of work on a move to the city’s west side."

[TCHP]

I'm not surprised and a bit shocked it took them three years to realize this. Their west-side proposal was not much larger and would end up similar to their main campus in that it would eventually be land locked by minimal expansion capability.

[Mike from back east]

When the plans for the westside hospital were announced I turned my head sideways like a dog that isn't sure it heard what you said, i.e., it didn't make a lot of sense to me. Regarding Penrose Main, I had a stent put in one night and everything and everyone about the place was awesome. Can't imagine why they wanted to replace it, though it may need some renovation or upgrading and that's probably a good move. Every time I went in for a followup the place was always thriving busy. I see it was voted one of the top 50 hospitals in the nation.

I can't get into the Gazette to see exactly where it will be, would appreciate if someone adds that.

[Vision67]

Mike, the story didn't give an exact location.

[DrDog]

Can't think of many places along I-25 were there are 60 empty acres of land unless they go far north

[TCHP]

60 acres sounds big until you see it all laid out with buildings and parking. The current downtown Penrose complex is just shy of 20 acres. The proposed Fillmore location at 80 acres was a bit deceiving. 30 acres of it was the asphalt processing plant, 20 acres of it was unusable due to soil and slide danger, leaving on 30 acres of usable land, or roughly only 10 additional acres over the downtown location and half the size they are closing on up north. The 60 acres they are considering now will be much more usable. My guess is that it will be off Baptist Rd.

The Gazette article went on to say that Centura is planning on spending $100 million to expand the St Francis campus with additional height/floors and $300 million in infrastructure upgrades to Penrose Main.

[DrDog]

Baptist? I guess that’s possible. I was thinking Northgate or Interquest, but usually when I read “Northern Cos” they mean just barely north of down town.

[TCHP]

The St Francis center is at Woodman and Powers. Memorial north is off Briargate and Union. Putting something between Northgate and Baptist provides maximum access to the northern El Paso County and southern Douglas County residents Centura is targeting with this change. Putting it near Baptist Rd gives them the ability to have direct ER access off Baptist RD instead of dealing with the commerical and residential traffic found off Interquest and Northgate.

But I could be wrong. There is a lot of infrastructure already in place at both Interquest and Northgate. Off Interquest you have New Alliegence Dr and Federal Dr which both have acreage to suit this size of build out. I think the round about at Northgate is undesirable and putting this near the residential areas right off Struthers would put them into a similar sort of neighborhood conflict they have with Penrose Main now.

I suppose with some digging around the County Assessor's site, you could figure out where the parcels are that capable of supporting this.

[DoodlemomCoS]

If the decide to build off of Baptist, I’m assuming that it would be right off the freeway. That would either be just west of I25 by the new truck stop or just north of Baptist on the east side. But if they do that they will be in Monument, not CoS. They aren’t many other places for it up here if they choose this area.

My bet is the Interquest area.

[DrDog]

Maybe a deal with someone to get Powers to the freeway?