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MVHS's Actions Since Lawsuit Filing
MVHS Alerts | News Alerts | Notes
Below are the partial notes from Emails that MVHS has sent out to staff and supporters. They’re from the CEO's "just the facts", and her "Darlene's digests", links are provided to full email, see "Ref".
October
10/25/2019 - Have you been to Downtown Utica and seen the medical center footprint lately? A great deal of work is being done on abating the buildings within the fenced-in construction site. Soon demolition will begin. Yesterday, donors from the MVHS Foundation were given tours of the footprint, it was quite impressive!
We are in the final stages of securing our financing from investors and the bond market. Our bonds are now on sale in the market and we’re fielding calls for more information. We are pleased with the level of interest. Yet another step forward in making the regional medical center a reality!
We've also closed on the last property underneath the footprint of the new medical center building! And, we are working on finalizing a date in early December for the groundbreaking of the medical center – more details to come soon!
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10/22/2019 - MVHS poses question, "Will we have the opportunity to see what the inside of the new medical center will look like?... answers
Yes! More than 600 Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) employees, along with the architectural firm working on the new medical center, NBBJ, held more than 200 user group meetings to design the new medical center from the inside-out.... this was a vital step in the process as once the design documents are completed, changes cannot be made. Now that the interior design of the building is complete..."
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10/18/2019 - Installing jersey barriers and fencing around the medical center footprint
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10/15/2019 - MVHS and construction partner Gilbane Building Company are working to engage contractors required to construct the new regional medical center. The most competitive and responsive proposals are interviewed in Scope Review meetings including those same reviewers to ensure a comprehensive understanding of expectations, requirements and schedule. A similar competitive process was followed by MVHS during pre-construction to select a contractor for abatement and demolition. The contract was awarded to a firm large enough to be able to conduct abatement and demolition of all 24 buildings in the medical center building footprint. A second competitive process will be conducted for the abatement and demolition for the 26 buildings outside the medical center building footprint.
Ref.
10/11/2019 - MVHS states, “Construction on the new regional medical center is slated to begin shortly.”
Ref.
10/09/2019 - What’s the latest on the construction of the new medical center? Is there a “budget shortfall” of $100 million? And, is there still a possibility that it can be built on the St. Luke’s Campus instead of the Downtown Utica location? A comprehensive plan has been developed to communicate all changes that will be occurring (e.g., road closures and timing) throughout the construction process in order to keep those living and working in the Downtown area informed. The initial budget estimate was done four years ago in 2015. Now that we are four years into the project and know what the design and layout of the new medical center will be, we can more accurately determine the actual cost of the project, which will be approximately $548 million. We secured financing for the medical center many months ago and are now finalizing the terms – there is no financial shortfall. MVHS is receiving $300 million through a New York State grant, raising $30 million through philanthropy and financing $270 million (similar to how you take out a mortgage for your own home). If you add up all of these numbers, it comes to $600 million while our budget is $548 million. Building a new regional medical center at the St. Luke’s Campus is not an option and hasn’t been for quite some time. The new regional medical center will be built in Downtown Utica – and this will be very visible within the next week as the construction fence is built and abatement of the existing buildings begins.
Ref.
10/04/2019 - Late last week we received the final, fully executed contract for the $300 million in funding from the state, which means that these monies are now available for construction of the new regional medical center. It’s a very significant step in our journey to building the medical center in Downtown Utica.
Ref.
September
09/27/2019 - This week Gilbane Building Company, our partner for constructing the new regional medical center, and MVHS sponsored an information session for contractors to learn about the medical center.
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09/24/2019 - A number of positive actions were taken toward the building of the new MVHS Regional Medical Center last week. Nearly all approvals to begin construction have been received.
The Site Plan was approved by the City of Utica Planning Board. The approval was only for the actual medical center building – not the helistop or parking garage. There will be a helistop (that is, a landing pad/helipad for helicopters to drop off or pick up patients for life-saving treatments) and a parking garage. The plans for the helistop will be brought before the Utica Planning Board as a separate item.
The Utica Common Council approved the closure of a portion of Cornelia Street and Sayres Alley to accommodate the medical center building. Initially, this Council tabled the decision until additional questions could be answered. On Friday, MVHS met with the Council at a special meeting and answered the Council members’ questions, and they voted to approve the street closures.
The New York State Department of Health granted approval for early construction. This means that construction can begin imminently, once abatement and the removal of the buildings have taken place.
As you may have seen, heavy equipment is now being brought into the downtown location of the medical center, and construction fencing is going up. Abatement of the buildings will begin within the next two weeks. Our construction experts have been in the buildings to assess the potential hazardous materials (e.g., asbestos) that require removal and abatement, and they will be implementing a Remedial Action Plan based on this evaluation. Buildings will start to be removed within the next four to six weeks once the Construction Health and Safety Plan (CHASP) has been approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The ground breaking for the new regional medical center is scheduled for early December.
Ref.
09/20/2019 - “we received approval from the New York State Department of Health to begin early construction! Construction fences are going up, abatement continues and buildings will start to be removed. Last night, the Utica Planning Board approved the Site Plan for the medical center after an extensive review of comments from City and County agencies and the MVHS responses. This is another significant step toward construction. You can read about it in the OD HERE. The helistop location was removed from the site plan temporarily since a significant amount of information about the design and plans for this area was requested, we decided to postpone the approval for it at this point in time so we could move forward with work on the actual medical center building. We will go back to the Planning Board later with more specifics on the helistop specifically and ask for approval. You may have read in the newspaper that at its meeting on Wednesday night, members of the Utica Common Council “tabled” the decision to close Cornelia Street and Sayres Alley, which is required for the medical center project, because they had a number of questions related to the project. We’ll be meeting with them tonight to answer their questions and request another vote on these items. And, our Finance Team continues to work diligently on the information necessary to obtain financing for the new regional medical center. We expect to close on these funds by the end of October.“
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09/17/2019 -
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09/13/2019 - On Tuesday, the Zoning Board unanimously approved the variances necessary for the building project. Earlier in the week we held meetings with bond rating agencies Fitch, Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s as part of a very involved process to access low interest loans to be used toward the new medical center and to retire other debt. This is the first time that MVHS as a health system has sought to be seen as an investment grade institution. Another factor that has impacted the budget is time. From delays in regulatory reviews to simply combating the negativity and suspicion caused by misinformation from opponents of the project, time delays contribute to an increase in costs as well. As for a timeline, it has shifted from the initial projections by about six months. That means that instead of moving into the new Downtown regional medical center at the end of 2022, we’ll be moving in on February 23, 2023.
Per Mohawk Valley Health System’s new CEO, “Everyone that I have spoken with is supportive of the new MVHS Regional Medical Center in Downtown Utica and doesn’t understand why anyone would be opposed.”
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09/06/2019 - We have moved into the next phase of construction with our partner Gilbain Building Company, based in Providence, Rhode Island, a national construction and facility management company. Additionally, we signed a contract yesterday with a demolition firm to begin removing buildings after abatement is complete.
Ref.
August
08/30/2019 - This week we closed on four City of Utica Urban Renewal Agency (URA) properties which had been conveyed to MVHS. Additionally, the Observer-Dispatch noted in this article how we’re engaging the community in the process and steps toward the new regional medical center.
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08/23/2019 - To date we have closed on 23 properties under the new medical center building. Construction fences are being put in place to secure properties as the abatement (e.g., removal of hazardous materials such as asbestos) process of those sites begins. Last week, both the New York State Department of Health and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) issued their Statement of Findings as part of the required State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process. Both certified that the requirements of the law have been met. In its document, DASNY stated: “The neighborhood is a documented blighted area . . . despite revitalization of surrounding areas over the years, there has been little development in this area for almost 30 years.”
Ref.
08/21/2019 - Our goal is to have a “shovel in the ground” by the end of the year. Here are some of the next steps toward meeting this goal: Right now, MVHS has “control” of all 20 properties under the new medical center building, and we’ve closed on 85 percent of these properties and have agreements with the other 15 percent. Last week, both the New York State Department of Health and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) issued their Statement of Findings as part of the required State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process. Both certified that the requirements of the law have been met, that MVHS will “minimize or avoid adverse environmental effects” as much as possible and any unavoidable effects will be addressed appropriately. In its document, DASNY also stated: “The neighborhood is a documented blighted area . . . despite revitalization of surrounding areas over the years, there has been little development in this area for almost 30 years.” Three City of Utica bodies are engaged in the review of the new regional medical center – the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Common Council. The Planning Board will be the body to approve the Site Plan. The Zoning Board of Appeals will be deciding on variances necessary for the medical center to be built as designed. The Common Council is considering the discontinuance of both Sayres Alley and parts of Cornelia Street for the new medical center and will hold a public hearing at its meeting on September 18. It is anticipated that all three bodies will act during their meetings this September. We are awaiting the release of the remaining funding from the Phase Two grant from the State of New York. Last Friday, the Oneida County Local Development Corporation unanimously approved tax exempt bonds of up to $300 million for MVHS, and a mortgage tax exemption if we need to take out a mortgage on the property.
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08/16/2019 - This week, both the Utica Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board considered aspects of the MVHS Regional Medical Center plans. The Zoning Board heard about the variances necessary for the medical center to be built as designed and tabled a vote while they await the County's review of the plans. And, a point of clarification from last week’s Medical Center Update – the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee voted to call for a public hearing for the discontinuance of both Sayres Alley and parts of Cornelia Street at its second meeting in September.
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July
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June
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May
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5/9/2019 - * * * LAWSUIT FILED * * * News Coverage
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