The expansion of a local hospital that’s has been more than six years in the making will move toward construction this fall. Suburban Hospital in Bethesda says it plans to break ground for its $230 million expansion project in October.
The project will replace 10 houses owned by the hospital with a 235,597-square-foot addition and a parking lot with 1,280 parking spaces.
“We are very excited to move forward with the facility that will truly meet the healthcare needs of the community we serve into future,” hospital spokeswoman Ronna Borenstein-Levy said. “The last major clinical addition of space to the hospital was about 35 years ago, in 1979, so some of these enhancements to our campus are long overdue.”
Borenstein-Levy said the groundbreaking is planned for Oct. 29 28. The parking garage is expected to open in 2017 and the addition is estimated to open by the summer of 2019, according to Borenstein-Levy.
For years, the Huntington Terrace Citizens’ Association, comprised of neighbors of the hospital, attempted to block the proposed expansion in court. Neighbors cited noise, traffic and the abandonment of part of Lincoln Street as concerns about the project.
Hospital officials previously planned a late 2014 groundbreaking after winning a Maryland Court of Special Appeals decision. The project will redevelop a full block between Lincoln Street and Southwick Street and nearly double the current size of the hospital’s campus.
Borenstein-Levy said the hospital addition will include more private patient rooms and larger operating rooms that can accommodate new technology for procedures such as MRI-guided surgery. She said the new parking lot will alleviate parking problems at the hospital.
“Anyone who has visited Suburban Hospital knows that parking can be a challenge,” she said.
