Will the Methodist Hospital Expansion Be Good for Park Slope?
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 7:44AM 
Methodist Hospital has unveiled their plans for expansion, and it's quite a doozy. Dubbed the Center for Community Health, it'll be home to 12 surgical suites, an after-hours emergency room, doctor's offices, a conference center, a cancer center, and an endoscopy suite with six procedure rooms, according to the BSA application, which also revealted the following details: the nine-story building will encompass 498,500 square feet; it will employ a staff of more than 320; and it'll generate an estimated 257 car trips per day. It also makes it clear that the vast majority of visitors to the hospital would travel by car.
So now that the details are in the open, it begs the question: how will all this affect the neighborhood? Will it increase the traffic in the area? Will it lead to lots of new and exciting lunchtime dining options? How will construction affect the immediate area? It's going to be the largest thing built in the neighborhood in years (not counting the Barclays Center, obviously). Whether or not we agree with it, the construction is pretty much a done deal, and with it the demolition of a lot of historic buildings.
Methodist Hospital 
Reader Comments (51)
I see Methodist did not respond to the neighbor's collective request to move the bulk of the building toward the commercial zone of 7th Avenue and away from the residential side of 8th Avenue. When they rejected that request I see Methodist chose not to respond to the request that they create a larger setback from 8th Avenue so the building did not loom so large or cut off so much of the air at the corner of 5th Street. Unlike Barclays, I see Methodist did not do any traffic impact. study for the neighborhood.
We are incredibly lucky to live in a neighborhood with a thriving hospital while much of Brooklyn is dealing with failed hospitals. For it to continue to thrive like any hospital it has to evolve and grow. We also live in the largest historic district in the borough, a few nondescript brownstones are a fair price to pay .
I think the car traffic will likely suck and it's incumbent on the hospital and public officials to ameliorate it the best they can-and their feet should be held to the fire.
However the increase in jobs and foot traffic will inevitably help our commercial businesses thrive .
For once, I agree with Jbob, with one caveat: the majority of Methodist's clientele come from outside of Park Slope. The creation of a Community Health Center has the potential to provide high-quality health care to residents of the Park Slope community. At this time, most of my neighbors (and, I suspect, most of Jbob's and others who comment on these pages) get their health care from providers in Manhattan, where care is perceived, perhaps accurately, to be better. Am I right?
I just hope they actually include a lot of parking. A garage that has some monthly spots would be great. I live near the hospital and the number of hospital employees parking on our block is very high. More employees+more patients needs to equal lots more parking since with the current numbers there are always tons of people on these streets looking for parking (made worse during end of school hours).
Maybe we also need parking passes for residents and really require the hospital to provide adequate parking spaces. (Note, I do not street park, but the noise of all the people double parking and honking right around here is far worse than anywhere else I've lived in Brooklyn and it's beyond annoying some days).
Including "a lot of parking" is absolutely the worst thing the hospital could do. Creating a lot of parking only induces people to drive. It will NOT make it easier to park for free on the street.
Rather, Methodist needs to do everything it can to provide alternatives to driving, and to incentivize employees, patients and visitors to use mass transit.
@Marty
I think youre exaggerating a little. First Methodist, like most hospitals, is a regional one thats always been intended to care for a community of people larger than Park SLope. And I do think most PSers actually get their health care in Brooklyn.
However, I agree that too many PSers still go into Manhattan for health care, though to be fair if you work in Manhattan it can be a lot more convenient for non emergency care and there are certain specialities that are still underrepresented in Brooklyn.
Either way youre right a better Methodist with more options for the community is entirely positive.
The traffic impact is more than a convenience issue, it's a health and safety issue. Methodist promised to study traffic impact, however their BSA filing only concludes that the traffic would be the same whether they built with or without variances. They are intent on ignoring the fact that their hospital complex is ill served by one and two lane residential streets.
Park Slope is now actually the largest historic district in New York City, not just Brooklyn. Even more reason we are able to give up a couple homes to expand one of the few thriving hospitals in Brooklyn. The goal here will be to create an expansion at the same time elevating the quality of Methodist so that it DOES become a draw for the neighborhood and borough. It will also be a much needed boost to businesses on 7th Avenue with the influx of the thousands of new people coming daily.
The NIMBY reactionaries are just that. A loud but vocal minority who complain about every single thing, development or otherwise. They simply want ZERO change to anything. Problem is, you can't live in the most dynamic city in the country and expect to live inside a bubble. We are already incredibly fortunate with regard to our protected buildings (TOO MUCH so if you ask me as prices continue to rise exponentially in Park Slope) much of this due to the inability to add much housing in the neighborhood because a vast stretch is protected.
The expansion looks good, hospitals are an amenity not a harbinger of doom. The new expansion will hopefully draw more people as Methodist has gotten quite a lot better in the last 10 years. I know many people who have gone and had great experiences, myself included.
@Up Slope
The traffic issue is an important one that I think all can agree on. Im sure it will go up BUT dont make traffic the bogeyman that many NImBYs do. It was a huge issue with Barclays and all those dire apocalyptic warnings have not come to pass.
Traffic on Flatbush near Barclays actually seems to have DECREASED since Barclays arrived. It's never been such smooth sailing along Flatbush this past year.
Fair enough Jbob, traffic is one of many objectionable parts of this plan. But go stand on the corner of 6th Street and 8th Ave sometime. See how often this crucial artery is gridlocked. Count the number of idling cars and service trucks. Look down to the corner of 5th Street and 8th. If you stand there long enough, you'll see someone turn the wrong way in to one-way traffic, or a taxi speed through a red light. That's not hyperbole and that's not conjecture. I witness it on almost a daily basis.
OMG you see traffic in the largest city in the country?
FOR SHAME!
@UPSLope
I like to fly down the timed lights on 8th ave as much as anyone but Im not sure I would consider it a "crucial" artery. Theres clearly a slight back up at 6th but the traffic back up at 8th ave and Union st is far, far worse and theres no business to blame for it.
By the hospital's own estimate, there will be more than 100,000 new patients a year, the majority of whom will arrive by car. The entrance will be on 8th Avenue and 6th Street, at the intersection of a one-lane road and a two-lane road that is frequently reduced to one for deliveries, double-parking, etc. Does that really seem like a good idea to you?
Bear in mind that this is an outpatient building, not an emergency-care facility, so it's not critical that this 500,000 square foot behemoth be built in the middle of a small, residential area. The best argument for putting it here is because they can.
NIMBYs suck!
Whats with this small residential BS. If Brooklyn was its own city, it would be the 4th largest in the entire country! It was bad enough when all the NIMBYS were against Barclays, at least they had an argument over whether it fit the public interest. A HOSPITAL IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST BY ITS VERY EXISTENCE! And they best serve the community when they are in the middle of large population centers. Yes that brings traffic, and yes by the time everyone gets done there will be a traffic plan in place that will still likely mean a net increase of cars on the streets.
Let me fill you in one the one truth here. We're about to elect a mayor that lives within walking distance of Methodist and who has been campaigning on reinvigorating Brooklyns hospitals. This is going to happen.
@JBob: not to mention that Methodist's parent hospital, The New York-Presbyterian system, is pouring lots of bucks into the project.
Simmer down, Jbob. As a lifelong Brooklynite, I would never dream of suggesting that Brooklyn is small, which is why I never said that. I am fully aware that this is a big city. But 6th Street and 8th Avenue is in the middle of a small, residential AREA, as I said, with no big multi-lane access points. You want a 500,000 square foot non-emergency building on 4th Avenue? Fantastic! Flatbush Avenue? Knock yourself out. But there is no getting around the fact that this gigantic building is completely out of place in this neck of the woods, which whether you like it or not is fully comprised of small-scale buildings and very narrow, residential streets.
"As a lifelong Brooklynite" I think you have no idea what you're talking about.
@Meh
In the last year in Brooklyn, 4 hospitals have either closed or are on the brink of closing and several others are facing bankruptcy. Do you have any clue the crises that Brooklyn health care is currently going through?
Do you realize how selfish and shortsighted you and the other NIMBYS are?
This is not about NIMBY. This is about being a good corporate citizen. Did you know Methodist has stated they would do this expansion even if all the impacted BKLYN hospitals were and continue to operate normally? Did you know that their original plan called for the 400+ new garage to exit onto 5th street prior to concerned neighbors getting involved? Have you traveled on 5th street? Did you know that their spokesperson stated at a public meeting that the people that work at Methodist are the backbone and lifeblood of Park Slope, not the residents? They are and continue to be tone deaf.
This expansion will happen but Methodist has not at any time been forthright with the community, including the fact that this has been in the works for many, many years. They won't consider redeveloping their big building on 6th Street for any part of this project even though the housing it serves could be accomplished by use of the brownstones on 8th avenue they have warehoused. It's about money for them. And that is fine because that is what the country is supposed to be about. But traffic, environmental impact and neighborhood impact are real concerns and people have the right to make their voices heard to try to help Methodist understand that what they intend to build for the good of their profits should also consider the good of the community in which they are located.
The only businesses that will thrive will be places like the Subway and D&D.
Saything that including a parking lot will encourage traffic and therefore the lot should be skipped and people will just take the subway is like the MTA saying if they remove the garbage cans from the subway, people sill stop bringing food down there. In reality, we now just leave our garbage on the call boxes or any other inconspicuous flat surface when we realize there are no f-ing garbages. Likewise, people will still drive but be forced onto the street.
I've heard (a nurse friend of mine) that Methodist is not so bad anymore. But EVERYONE I know whose been a patient has said it was a terrible experience and the hospital sucked. I've only had one experience there, which sucked, but it's not enough to draw an opinion from.
Also, this is an historic district. I'm not sure that means we need to make the hospital bigger, why not just better.
Jbob, you are so touchy! Try not to take this exchange of opinions and ideas so personally. Phil, substantive comeback! Good work, people.
Your mental leaps are Olympian. I am not anti-hospital. Who in their right mind could be anti-hospital? I am all for a better hospital experience for patients, staff, and nearby residents alike. In an ideal world, Methodist would sell all their real estate on 5th Street and 8th Avenue to developers who could make a fortune on structures like the one recently redeveloped on PPW and 6th Street, and the hospital would purchase appropriate commercial lots on 4th Avenue or 3rd Avenue. This is not a new emergency room we're talking about; it's outpatient services, so it's not critical that it be across the street from the existing hospital (which, Ted ReTurner, has been the site of many a horror story for my family. It's a Mickey Mouse operation compared with Manhattan hospitals. And that's a fact).
The last bastion of an argument is bashing, Methodist has been making very real improvements, it's long stopped being the experience you describe.
Some of you folks clearly know nothing about health care, ERs lose money. If you want a good one you need to support the kinds of services that do make money . Among many other benefits, including efficiencies, there are Medicare reimbursement incentives to having an on campus outpatient facility. (As well as other payors) Outpatient facilities are a huge growth area as there is now a huge migration of medical procedures to outpatient centers. Every good hospital today across the country is making this same investment.
The community is making a huge error if they don't support this.
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Phil - the headline of the entry is "Will the Methodist Hospital Expansion Be Good for Park Slope?" The questions asked at the end are whether it will affect the neighborhood. It is not about if it is right or wrong to support the expansion - it is going to happen anyway.
However, if Methodist does not have their feet held to the fire through this entire process then the impact to the neighborhood will tilt significantly to the wrong side of the ledger. Remember, their veteran PR mouthpiece believes the hospital and its workers are the backbone of Park Slope not the people who live here so do we really think they are looking out to the benefit of the community? Advocating for a better, more responsible expansion project - albeit one that could cut into the profit line of a commercial enterprise - is not an error.
I live 60 yards from the corner of 8th avenue and 5th street. I know the project will happen. I will do all that I can to work with them to build a better mousetrap but let's all know what the truth is. They want to increase profits. Let's make sure they do it in a manner that doesn't overly impact the neighborhood in which these profits will be generated.