Hospital plans for BA expand
By: TIM STANLEY World Staff Writer 4/30/2008 12:00 AM
The St. John facility, set to open next year, will have about 20,000 extra square feet.
BROKEN ARROW — Construction has not yet begun, but the new St. John Broken Arro w hospital is already gro wing. Officials revealed Monday that the facility will be bigger than anticipated, offering 170,000 square feet instead of the original plan’s 150,000. The projected price of the facility —to be built north west of Elm Place (161st East Avenue) and Albany (East 61st) Street off the Broken Arro w Express w ay — is also gro wing: from just over $100 million to $120 million, officials said. “To offer the programs we want, we decided to gro w it by another 20,000 square feet,” said Mike Prescott, principal for project developer and owner Broken Arro w Medical Facility LLC. Prescott said site work should begin in the next t w o to three weeks, even though Broken Arro w city officials are still working on the final draft of a contract to provide infrastructure. City officials confirmed Monday they will provide around $500,000 in water, se wer and other infrastructure improvements for the hospital. “We are waiting on the final utility plan with dimensional information,” city spokesman Keith Sterling said, adding that officials hope to have the contract to the Broken Arro w City Council in May. A St. Francis Health System official, meanwhile, said his hospital has no stance on the city assisting with the ne w St. John facility, though it will potentially compete for some of the same patients. “We don’t really have an opinion on that,” St. Francis Senior Vice President Joe Neely said. “We know the community wants a full-service hospital, and they need to do whatever they can legally and ethically to make that happen. We wish them well.” The St. John Broken Arro w project was announced in October 2007, four months after St. Francis scaled back the city’s lone full-service hospital, St. Francis Hospital Broken Arro w, to an urgent-care center and moved services to the newly expanded, full-service St. Francis South, 91st Street and U.S. 169 in Tulsa. Prescott said the increase in costs for the ne w St. John hospital is related to not only the additional space, but tougher economic times. He also projected difficulties in dealing with rocks at the site. The extra space will be added to the first floor, he said. “We’re still trying to refine what we’re doing. It’s an ongoing process, working with our manager, St. John, to offer the best services that Broken Arro w needs,” Prescott said. Officials said previously the services would include emergency care, women’s services, orthopedic services, general surgery and digital diagnostic imaging. The facility should open in September or October 2009, as originally projected, Prescott said.
The complex, which will include a medical office building, will occupy 22 acres, with much of the remaining 68-acre site targeted for commercial development. The 96-bed St. John hospital and companion office building will be built at the same time, Prescott said. The office building — 105,000 square feet on four floors — will house St. John administration, along with doctors who should move in and begin seeing patients before the hospital opens, Prescott said. Plans call for eventually adding a second office building, Prescott said. The original office building will be built on the east side of the hospital, with the future one to the west.
Tim Stanley 581-8385
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com
St. John Broken Arrow - Rendering