The University of Maryland Medical System shared preliminary designs with the city Thursday for a $50 million-plus outpatient center in midtown Baltimore as it grows on the campus of the former community hospital.
The 10-story, 212,000-square-foot building would be built roughly opposite the Mount Calvary Church north of Madison Street between Linden and Eutaw Streets. Presented Thursday to the city’s Urban Design & Architecture Panel, it would contain an outpatient surgery center, HIV clinic and diabetes center, plus five floors of parking.
Mark Wasserman, a senior vice president at UMMS, said the project reflects broader trends to treat more patients outside of hospitals and will allow the University of Maryland Medical Center — the system’s academic flagship — to expand its presence at the midtown campus, the former Maryland General Hospital.
“The intent to which we are building steadily is to have it be seen as an extension of the University of Maryland Medical Center,” Wasserman said. “What this building is doing is creating space for some very eminent School of Medicine faculty to continue to move up there.”
UMMS announced similar plans in 2013, but they were delayed amid changes to health care laws, he said. The new project is on a different site because the previous location was small and irregularly shaped, he said.
Demolition of the four-story structure on the site is expected to start this fall, with construction beginning shortly after, Wasserman said.
The state is expected to pay for about half of the building, with $4 million included in the current budget and $20 million in the following two years.
Most of the design discussion Thursday focused on how to treat the parking garage, and de-emphasize the mass of the large, box-like structure.
“It’s very clear how relatively large this is in terms of bulk,” said planning director Thomas J. Stosur.
The outpatient center will need further approval to proceed.
