Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center Link Building Tower (16 stories, 470,000 sq. ft., $500 million)

[markhollin]

Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center is planning a 15 story, 470,000 sq. ft. "Link Building" tower that will include 180 single-occupancy patient rooms, 10 operating rooms, radiology services, specialty clinics, and administrative offices.

The 15 stories will be built atop an already existing parking garage between 21st Ave. South and Medical Center Drive, with the main entrance being on Vivien Thomas Way. It will increase the hospital's capacity by 25% and will cost at least $500 million. This will be the largest project in the hospital's history. Construction will begin later this month, and take 4.5 years to complete.

The architect firm is Blair, Mui + Dowd, which specializes in medical projects.

As part of the construction project, workers will demolish the 61-year-old Oxford House administrative office building to create space for the new tower.

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. 

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2022/07/25/vanderbilt-university-medical-center-planning-500-million-expansion/10124871002/


And behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/vumc-plans-new-15-story-tower/article_114ebd36-0c16-11ed-875b-973070dabf38.html

This screen shot from Smeagolsfree's excellent development map shows the site highlighted in teal at the center of the frame:

[smeagolsfree]

For those of you that can't read either, here is the Vandy Reporter story where they got the info. Post story will be live a little later on.

 

VUMC Reporter | Vanderbilt University

[andywildman]

RIP to the 10-story Oxford House building. My only experience with that building was the barbershop on the ground floor, it was probably the last affordable place to get a haircut in Midtown.

[AsianintheNations]

Just saw this pop up in the Tennessean! I've been wondering when something like this would happen, given the hospital always being at capacity with a long waitlist for transfers from outside hospitals. The Tennessean article mentions the last such project being the Critical Care Tower in 2009 (they quoted that at 102 beds, but it's a lot more than that - 5 of the floors are used as inpatient ICU or stepdown level beds, and there are 35 single-occupancy rooms per floor, so that's 175 beds, plus the later addition of the observation unit on the first floor. However, the complete gutting of the Medical Center East tower's 6-8th floors much more recently added over 100 beds of inpatient (again ICU or stepdown) - which helped a ton during the height of COVID - technically not a separate building, but it may as well have been. I'm glad that this project won't displace outpatient clinics like the MCE project did, since Oxford House was most recently being used for temporary departmental offices, though I do wonder whether that office space will be recreated in the Link Building, or if the offices will be distributed to satellite buildings. I am too new to the area to have any fond memories of Oxford House, but presumably some of the older physicians might?

I find the current rendering of the Link building entrance from 21st Ave S kind of weird looking, but it looks like they're planning the main entrance to be on Vivien Thomas instead and I'm sure the plans are subject to change. I guess it's better than what's there currently (a fence and parked cars). But if the hospital's entryway will not be on 21st anyway, why not add a cafe or put a little garden there for patients' families, instead of a half-hearted drop-off circle? Unless the emergency department is being moved, most patients would actually be entering the building via skybridges or tunnels across Medical Center Dr, and patient families would presumably park and enter from the expanded Central Garage.

@andywildmanThe Oxford House barbershop has relocated with the same barbers to "Oxford in the Village" on Acklen Ave, with the same barbers as before.

 

[colemangaines]

Current view vs. rendering for reference:

[smeagolsfree]

I hate to see the Oxford House come down and we it knew it would for some time.

The new building will address the street somewhat better. The height will be a lot better. My guess is the height will be around 240'

A minimum floor-to-floor height of 16 feet will provide vertical clearance for tall equipment, with at least 4 feet of above-ceiling space, the majority of which will be taken up by HVAC equipment to achieve the air flow levels required by sterile environments.

[dxfret]

This is welcome news.  VUMC badly needs to upgrade and modernize many of its existing facilities, especially the ER/Trauma Center and parts of the adult hospital.  I will not miss the Oxford House and also hope the Medical Arts Building  is  totally renovated or replaced as a part of this project. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by dxfret

[GregH]

Man, the Oxford House and (not quite as bad) MAB were hopelessly dated when I was working for VUMC 10 years ago, I'm surprised they even lasted this long.

[CenterHill]

A buddy of mine lived in Oxford House in the early '80's.   It was dated then!    

[gannman]

6 hours ago, dxfret said:

This is welcome news.  VUMC badly needs to upgrade and modernize many of its existing facilities, especially the ER/Trauma Center and parts of the adult hospital.  I will not miss the Oxford House and also hope the Medical Arts Building  is  totally renovated or replaced as a part of this project. 

They are currently renovating the adult hospital lobby,  but I have not heard anything regarding the ER.

Edited July 25, 2022 by gannman

[rolly]

Wow what an upgrade for the site.  A beautiful half-billion dollar silver glass tower.

Would be cool to have an amenities level on the top floor with observation areas.  Perhaps the coffee shop or a cafe would be up there.  If you're a guest visiting a patient, it would be a great respite. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by rolly

[AsianintheNations]

9 hours ago, dxfret said:

 I will not miss the Oxford House and also hope the Medical Arts Building  is  totally renovated or replaced as a part of this project. 

The weirdest part about both buildings to me is that they look like they were engulfed by the parking garage that pretends to be at ground level on the 21st Ave side. As a pedestrian, all of the entries on the multiple garage levels feel like you're slipping in the back door or something. Re: the Medical Arts Building, nothing says outdated like having men's and women's bathrooms on alternating floors.

As for an amenities floor for the new building, there's nearby precedent they can work off of. The cafe by the diabetes clinic on the top floor of Medical Center East is tiny but has great views. I've also heard rumors of an interior atrium for the Link Building, which I imagine would be something similar to the atrium in the critical care tower. For those who haven't been inside, this is the only photo I could find online looking into the atrium from a higher floor waiting room (from SSR: https://www.ssr-inc.com/projects/vanderbilt-university-medical-center-critical-care-tower/):

It's pretty with all the plants and a quiet place to rest, but from a practical standpoint I imagine that the real reason it's there is so additional patient rooms could be built facing the interior while still having a windows to let in natural light (there's nothing better at causing delirium than a windowless hospital room).

[AsianintheNations]

11 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

My guess is the height will be around 240'

It could potentially look even taller from the perspective of Medical Center Drive, right? The current Oxford House sits on the third floor of the East Garage as viewed from the west. In the render, I count 15 floors from the 21st Ave view, so it might be more like 17 from the Medical Center Dr. side. Med Center East for instance counts its floors from the Medical Center Dr. side to be consistent with all of the other hospital towers across the skybridges.

Along those lines, I would be willing to bet there will be a skybridge connecting the Critical Care Tower to the Link Building, as a way of getting patients from the ED to the Link Building, and on the middle floors for getting the ICU team to the Link Building (for codes) without having to either run outside or circle around the long way through existing skybridges. The back corridor of CCT ends suddenly in a window, and this would be the perfect (and only) place to extend a skybridge without having to disrupt any patient rooms or their views (see awful sketch below). This is a very longwinded way of saying that it would make sense for the Link Building's floors to be the same height, and be counted the same way, as the CCT.

[markhollin]

Looking at the site, which includes the 11 story, 1960s-era  Oxford House. The latter is being prepped for implosion.

Looking NW from intersection of 21st Ave. South and Vivien Thomas Way:

[markhollin]

A Metro Water Dept. permit has been applied for. in relations to construction of the 15 story Link Tower. 

The permit references 222,825 square feet of medical office space, 180 patient rooms and 575-square-foot coffee shop.

The construction, expected to begin this summer and last four-and-a-half years, will be the first significant expansion at VUMC since the 2009 construction of the Critical Care Tower.

No word yet on the planned implosion of the Oxford House to make way for the new structure.

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/notes-vumc-moves-toward-start-of-500m-project/article_48901e6a-4a79-11ed-b804-6f72a1e7d449.html

[etimer13]

The Oxford House will not be removed until the Link Building is complete enough for current occupants of the Oxford House to move into the new building. It should be an interesting process.

[GregH]

For all the talk about the Oxford House's impending demise, I haven't heard a peep about the other permanent fixture on that site.

 

 

[smeagolsfree]

Central garage will have 3 additional floors added to it related to this project bringing the total number of spaces in the garage to 1500 and the garage to 8 floors. Construction is due to start immediately.

Changes to Central Garage begin this week | VUMC Reporter | Vanderbilt University

[AsianintheNations]

On 10/13/2022 at 7:31 PM, GregH said:

For all the talk about the Oxford House's impending demise, I haven't heard a peep about the other permanent fixture on that site.

Yeah, pretty sure that trailer is never going anywhere. Also, thanks for making me check whether my screen had a little piece of red thread on it, thanks to the stray mark above your annotated google streetview image.

[GregH]

oops!

[markhollin]

Vanderbilt Central Garage expansion, which is part of this project, is underway.

Looking NW from intersection of 21st Ave. South and Pierce Ave:

[etimer13]

On 10/13/2022 at 8:47 AM, etimer13 said:

The Oxford House will not be removed until the Link Building is complete enough for current occupants of the Oxford House to move into the new building. It should be an interesting process.

Just an update to this. Those of us in the Oxford House are now being told that plans have changed (after an engineering assessment) and they are now going to demolish OH earlier in the process than they had hoped.  

[smeagolsfree]

WW got the height of the building, and it will be 217 facing 21st and 235 facing Medical Ctr. I figured 240 on this one so 5' off is pretty good math.

The building permits have been applied for as well.

The height of the new addition to the garage next door is 79 feet as they are adding 3 levels of parking.

[markhollin]

Core drilling on site.

Looking west from 21st Ave. South at Vivien Thomas Way:

Looking NW from 21st Ave. South at Vivien Thomas Way:

[MLBrumby]

Woah!  So what was that under the Oxford House parking lot?  Doesn't look like more parking, or maybe it was and I just don't remember. I've heard of a series of tunnels running all underneath the VU campus, but I've only been in a couple of segments. When I lived on The 'bod (Peabody) we didn't have the pedestrian bridges. So many times we walked through the lobby of VUMC.