Allegheny General Hospital [AGH], in response to a need for more single-occupancy rooms, is hoping to construct a new structure on its Central Northside campus. As a part of the unveiling of its proposed institutional master plan to the City Planning Commission on Tuesday, the hospital detailed three potential development sites.
The proposed locations — which would accommodate anywhere from from 256,000 to 290,000 gross square feet of hospital space, with an as-yet-undetermined number of rooms — fall on three corners of the AGH’s existing campus. Plans for expansion are being driven by a desire to construct more semi-private patient rooms and optimize medical service lines across the hospital.
“Especially coming out of the pandemic, having shared-patient rooms is not the ideal level of care,” the hospital’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Nussbaum said during the commission’s meeting.
Although three potential sites were detailed in the master plan, there are currently no proposed plans to develop any of them. Before any action can be taken, the hospital is commissioning a series of master planning studies to determine its direction.
After the studies are completed, development may be proposed at one or two of the locations.
Commissioners raised concerns about a possible increase in traffic at the hospital. If a site on the corner of Hemlock and James streets was developed, 25 on-site parking spaces would be lost.
“I find it hard to believe that you’re going to build this much more square feet and not increase the number of people,” Commission Chair Christine Mondor said. “If I were the community, I’d want to know that you had a plan to handle it.”
AGH does not anticipate a meaningful increase in traffic as a result of new construction, but the hospital still hopes to encourage both staff and visitors to reduce their reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.
“We’re not going to be increasing any traffic coming to campus. It’ll still be the same people, but those people will have a little more space within the hospital,” said Ann Kline, a Trans Associates engineer who presented a transportation management plan commissioned for the master plan.
One particular proposal to discourage car use—a reevaluation of parking costs—concerned Commissioner Monica Ruiz.
“In the [presentation], it talked about raising the price of parking to discourage people from parking there. I think that’s unrealistic, especially if people are ill and want to seek healthcare,” Ruiz said.
In response, AGH acknowledged that they will discuss and reevaluate their transportation plan before they return to the committee in two weeks.
In addition to the possible development sites, the hospital also detailed a plan to temporarily relocate their helipad. The landing area, currently located at the corner of Sandusky Street and East North Avenue, would be moved on top of the Snyder Pavilion, located in the center of the hospital’s campus.
This change would only occur if development takes place on the corner of Sandusky and East North Avenue. According to the master plan, the proposed change would decrease the noise pollution of helicopters landing at the hospital—a main concern of Northside residents who live near the hospital.
AGH will return to the City Planning Commission on June 13 for public comment and a potential vote on the master plan.
Lucas Dufalla is an editorial intern with PublicSource and can be reached at lucas@publicsource.org.
