Jefferson grabs Washington Square site in ongoing health-care turf battle

The turf battle between two Center City medical centers — Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital — has taken a new turn.

Jefferson is taking over the former Chops steakhouse space at 7th and Walnut streets. David McQuaid, president of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, said Jefferson has entered into a lease to occupy the former restaurant, which closed last summer.

In an email, McQuaid stated the hospital signed a deal for the property “with the intention of expanding Jefferson’s ambulatory footprint, consistent with the national trend for growth in the outpatient market.”

A Jefferson spokeswoman said the hospital’s specific plans for the site, a former Philadelphia Savings Fund Society building, are still being finalized. Financial terms of the project have not been disclosed.

The move comes about six months after Pennsylvania Hospital’s parent, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, opened the 12-story Penn Medicine Washington Square health center.

Penn Medicine invested $22 million in the outpatient-care center at 8th and Walnut streets, which was developed by Liberty Property Trust at a cost of $49.6 million. The Penn Medicine facility is a block from the 11-story, $35.8 million academic building Jefferson opened at 9th and Walnut in 2012.

The hospital building projects have, and will, result in Penn Medicine edging closer to Jefferson’s campus, and Jefferson operating health centers on either side of Penn Medicine's Washington Square ambulatory-care center.

Some Jefferson officials even refer to the Penn Medicine Washington Square Building as “Penn Medicine at Jefferson.”

Here’s how the geography plays out: Jefferson’s main hospital building takes up an entire city block between 9th and 10th streets and Chestnut and Sansom streets. Thomas Jefferson University’s campus and other Jefferson medical facilities extend several blocks south to Locust and west to 11th street and north to Ludlow street.

Pennsylvania Hospital’s campus occupies primarily the block bordered by 8th and 9th streets and Pine and Spruce Streets. The 6-month-old outpatient center stretches Penn Medicine presence up to Walnut Street.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal