Penn Health System picks development team, 'starchitect' for hospital expansion

Penn Health System is planning to knock down its Penn Tower to make way for a new structure that industry sources say will house 700 patient beds, 50 operating rooms and other health-care services.

GMCS Editorial: Congratulations to Mack Stulb and the entire L.F. Driscoll project team on another noteworthy project awarded!

The University of Pennsylvania Health System has selected a team to help it construct a new hospital tower and, in another step forward, has issued a request for proposals for the demolition of Penn Tower.

The health system has retained L.F. Driscoll, a Philadelphia construction management firm to oversee the building of the new Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania [HUP] facility. Driscoll is owned by Structure Tone, and Balfour Beatty Construction, a national construction management firm based in Dallas. Driscoll has been a go-to firm for the health system in the past and has completed a deep list of projects for it. Balfour Beatty has extensive health care experience.

The health system has also selected the architectural firm Foster + Partners to design what will be an estimated $1.5 million project. Foster + Partners, based in London, is a world-renowned firm that also designed the Comcast Center for Innovation and Technology. (Driscoll is also the general contractor on that $1.2 billion project.)

Asked about its progress on the project, the Penn Health system issued the following statement:

"Penn Medicine is continuing to move forward in developing facilities to provide advanced patient care for the region. We are in planning for a new patient pavilion to increase our current capacity at HUP. If approved by the Trustees of Penn Medicine and the university, this expansion would be developed in the area where Penn Tower now stands. We are currently taking steps to relocate the remaining occupants of Penn Tower and prepare the site. When approved, Pennoni and P. Agnes have been contracted to manage the demolition. To further develop a patient pavilion, the health system has recently awarded a contract to a team of companies who will work in concert under an integrated project delivery basis. The PennFIRST team includes Foster + Partners, HDR, Balfour Beatty and Driscoll, which together will provide initial design and cost models. More detailed information will not be available until the planning phase is complete."

The health system last summer, according to industry sources, began to move forward with the massive project by soliciting prospective construction companies, architectural and other firms and asking them indicate whether they would be interested in undertaking what is believed to be a 700-bed hospital with 50 operating rooms. The selection of a development team is the first big step in that process. Designing a hospital of the future is another large hurdle, and it will be fascinating to see how the health system and its architect interpret how medicine will be delivered in 21st Century.

The project would be done in multiple phases over several years. It's expected that the health system will begin razing Penn Tower sometime this year in preparation to make way for construction of the new hospital.

The project would involve building a new complex on the site of the existing Penn Tower, which was originally built in 1975 as the Hilton Hotel of Philadelphia. The structure was later acquired by Penn and has housed a variety of offices and clinics for the Penn Health System. Those operations and employees have or will be relocated to other sites in University City and in Center City in preparation of its eventual demolition.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal