YNHH Reshuffles St. Ray’s Campus

Buoyed by three approvals Monday night, Yale New Haven Hospital plans to move a 60-child daycare center to George Street and to expand a church-turned-medical office building on Sherman Avenue in order to make way for a new $838 million neuroscience center at its St. Raphael’s Campus.

YNHH Vice President for Facilities Design, Construction & Real Estate Stephen Carbery outlined that planned reshuffling of medical services within the hospital’s Dwight-Edgewood-West River footprint in a May 16 request submitted to the Board of Alders.

The request, which also includes new details on the hospital’s planned flood-proofing of a proposed primary care center at 150 Sargent Dr. on Long Wharf, asked the full board to pass three resolutions by unanimous consent that would certify that the hospital does not need to amend the 2018 Medical Area Overall Parking Plan (MAOPP) in order to proceed with various site plan and zoning relief applications for these projects that it has submitted to the City Plan Commission and to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Each project, Carbery suggests, will have ​“no impact on parking availability or parking options” in the relevant areas of the city.

The alders unanimously approved the three resolutions at the full board meeting Monday night.

“None of these three interior renovations would require or should require a change to the overall parking plan,” Westville Alder Adam Marchand said before the unanimous vote of approval.

Click here to download the hospital’s full application.

Daycare Move

The hospital currently operates a child daycare center at the St. Raphael’s Campus at 1450 Chapel St.

“In order to accommodate the proposed Neuroscience Center,” Carberry writes in the applicatoin, ​“the daycare must be relocated from its current location prior to the start of any construction activities on the campus.”

The hospital plans to move the daycare center to 501 George St. at the corner of Dwight Street, which is approximately 1,800 feet east of the existing center. The George Street location is the former home of the Ronald McDonald House, which recently moved to Howard Avenue.

The hospital has submitted a special exception application to the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to permit the use of a daycare center in a RM‑2 High-Middle Density zone.

“It is anticipated the George Street daycare center will accommodate approximately 60 children,” Carbery writes, ​“with a staff of approximately 23. Because the daycare center operates from 6:30 AM until 5:30 PM, the staff operates on shifts such that all staff members are never working at the center at any one time. All daycare center staff members are employed by YNHH and those staff who drive to work currently park on the St. Raphael campus within the McGivney Lot located at 671 George Street.”

That lot has 62 parking spaces, he writes, and staff will continue to park there even after the move to George Street. Per city zoning code, he writes, the daycare center only needs eight parking spaces for staff and another three drop-off/pick-up loading spaces for children.

“This is consistent with the MAOPP,” he writes, ​“which provides that centralized parking recognizes ​‘the inefficiency and lack of feasibility of providing separate parking at each individual building in a developed urban setting such as New Haven, the fluidity of a walkable and bicycle friendly campus environment, and the provision of transportation options by participating institutions.’”

Plymouth Expansion

Carbery’s application also reveals that the hospital plans to expand its current medical offices at the former Plymouth Congregational Church at 175 Sherman Ave. at the corner of Chapel Street.

Since 1983, he writes, the former church has been home to medical office use. It currently serves as a cardiac, occupational, and orthopedic rehabilitation facility.

“While the existing rehabilitation uses will remain,” he writes, ​“YNHH proposes a substantial upgrade to the interior of the building to provide better and more convenient patient care, including expanded space for a total of ten physicians, plus an additional 2,083 square feet of other office space. In addition, for the safety and convenience of its patients, YNHH proposes to improve access into the building both directly from Sherman Avenue on the building’s west entrance with the addition of an accessible ramp, new stairs, and a canopy, and also from the parking field on the bulding’s north entrance.”

The staff that will occupy the newly expanded building, Carbery writes, currently work at the Sherman Avenue location or at the Saint Raphael’s Campus across the street. There will be no total increase in the number of staff, and the existing staff will continue to park on the Saint Raphael’s Campus.

“The relocation of these staff currently working on the Saint Raphael campus will facilitate the proposed development of the Neuroscience Center,” he writes.

The hospital has submitted a site plan for the proposed expansion of 175 Sherman Ave. to the City Plan Commission.

Long Wharf Primary Care Center

Carbery’s request also argues that the hospital’s planned relocation of its primary care services from downtown to Long Wharf will similarly have no impact on parking in the city. The planned move, if approved by the state, will establish a central primary care center to be run by Cornell Scott Hill Health Center and Fair Haven Community Health Care and to be called the New Haven Primary Care Consortium.

State regulator concerns over the vulnerability of the 150 Sargent Dr. building to flooding has so far delayed the state’s decision on whether or not to approve the primary care move.

The first floor (29,277 square feet) of the Sargent Drive building, Carbery writes, will be renovated to serve radiology, blood drawn, and federally qualified health center (FQHC) clinics for pediatrics and women’s health. And the second floor (22,847 square feet) will be renovated to serve women, infants, and children (WIC), office space for the women’s health FQHC, and clinic space for internal medicine FQHC.

“The building mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm, and fire protection systems will be completely upgraded to comply with applicable building codes and support the new spaces,” he writes. ​“New roof top air handlers will be located on the lower roofs to serve the first floor of the building. A new air handler will be located within the second floor mechanical room to serve the second floor space. A new emergency generator and electrical transformer will be installed on an elevated concrete pad at the northeast corner of the building. New building mounted exterior light fixtures will also be installed as part of the proposed project.”

As for floodproofing, he writes, a ​“fluid-applied waterproofing membrane will be installed to provide dry-flood proofing to the building at an elevation of 13.86’. Pedestrian flood barrier doors with automatic closers will be installed at all single and double exterior door locations. The main entrance vestibule floor will be raised to an elevation of 12.00’, and a stackable flood barrier provided at this larger width opening. The existing stair towers will be wet flood proofed as per the Building Code, with insulated flood vents provided. The emergency generator and electrical transformer concrete pad will be installed at the required design flood elevation of 12.00’.”

The new building will have 250 on-site parking spaces. But, Carbery notes, the MAOPP doesn’t currently extend eastward to Sargent Drive, and therefore doesn’t apply to the new primary care center location.

“YNHH is not relying on the MAOPP for parking compliance,” he writes, ​“nor are we eliminating any spaces that are part of the MAOPP.”

The hospital has submitted an application for site plan review for the project to the City Plan Commission.