MVHS eliminates three properties from site plan for planned downtown Utica health-care campus

UTICA, N.Y. — The final site plan for the Mohawk Valley Health System’s (MVHS) planned new health-care campus in downtown Utica eliminates three properties that were “originally identified for use by the system.”

The new boundaries follow the “refinement of the plan,” MVHS said in a news release issued Thursday.

MVHS officials have made the property owners aware that their properties are no longer included in the plan for the hospital project.

The three parcels no longer in the final site plan belong to Eggers, Caryl & Corrigan Inc., a truck-tire services company at Oriskany Street and Broadway; Rockford Auto Glass at Oriskany Street and Washington Street; The Orange Tree, LLC which owns a building at Lafayette Street and Broadway.

The site plan includes refinement of the campus boundaries, hospital size and placement, and location of ancillary buildings and parking amenities. It does not include the aesthetics of the facility design, which are still under development, MVHS said.

“We know this process has been challenging for the business and property owners and we appreciate their patience as we have been working through this complex project,” Scott Perra, president and CEO of MVHS, said in the release. “In April, we received notification that we were awarded the $300 million transformation grant from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and in May we began working on the design of the hospital. Designing for a new health-care campus is an interesting experience; we are designing from the inside out, first looking at the processes to care for the patients and then designing the space to provide the care. We reviewed a number of scenarios for how the hospital footprint, parking garage and parking areas would fit into the final site plan; once we had that completed, we could reach out to the property owners.”

In addition, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) has finished its initial review of the property appraisals. DASNY has requested additional information for 11 of those properties and MVHS wants to obtain the information in the next 60 days, the organization said.

Once that work is done and DASNY accepts it, MVHS will then meet with the property owners. MVHS estimates the process will take between 12 and 18 months, including purchase offer, property-owner acceptance, and conclusion of the acquisition.

The hospital is still on track to open in 2022, MVHS added.

 MVHS officials are working with Oneida County and the City of Utica to see “what type of support” the government entities can provide to the downtown property owners, the organization said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com