26 Jul VUMC PLANS $500M 15-STORY TOWER
We are thrilled to be working with Blair + Mui Dowd Architects on the new VUMC Link Building, the first major expansion at the hospital since 2009.
The 15-story inpatient tower is situated between 21st Avenue South and Medical Center Drive. The future Link Building will connect two existing structures and sit atop an existing parking garage and will add nearly 470,000 square feet to the Vanderbilt hospital. The Link Building is expected to include about 180 inpatient beds, 10 operating rooms, radiology services, specialty clinics, and administrative offices. Once complete, it will expand the hospital’s patient capacity by nearly 25%.
“Many of the specialty services we offer, such as trauma, burn and solid organ transplantation, are only available through Vanderbilt University Hospital,” said C. Wright Pinson, deputy CEO, in a written statement. “This expansion will create sufficient capacity for us to meet the needs of these patients and many others in the most effective and efficient manner.”
Each new room will be single-occupancy and be designed to be easily converted into an intensive-care unit space, as needed. The expansion will be completed in phases beginning summer 2022, with the first additional beds becoming available in 2024. The hospital will continue to open up more space in phases until construction is complete. The entire project is expected to take four and a half years to complete.
Construction of the Link Building will require the razing of the 1961, 11-story Oxford House building.
Work also includes a three-floor expansion of the Central Parking Garage to add 600 new spaces. The adjacent Medical Center East will also be remodeled on its third floor to add about 44,000 square feet of operating room space.
Image Courtesy Blair, Mui+Dowd via Vanderbilt