News

Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital Re-Use Process

Released: 2/9/2012

Concept rendering by Urban Land Institute (ULI)

On April 1, 2012, the new Gates Vascular Institute will open adjacent to the Buffalo General Medical Center.  The opening of the new facility, which will be Western New York’s hub for stroke care, cardiac surgery and vascular services, will mark the closing of Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital.

Kaleida Health has committed to a transparent re-use process for Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital. The goal of the re-use process is to find a suitable developer who is interested in the property, or help determine other future possibilities for the site, including demolition. 

Activity is under way and progress includes:

• In 2011, Kaleida Health engaged the internationally renowned Urban Land Institute (ULI) to study the re-use concept. The goal of engaging ULI was to seek strategic advice, examine re-use scenarios and help guide the selection of an entity to which Kaleida Health could transfer the property.  The full report is available at: www.kaleidahealth.org/ULI.
• A project advisory committee led by former Kaleida Health Board Chair Ted Walsh has been established to help promote communication between the community and the hospital re-use process.  The committee includes neighbors, block club leaders, local business leaders, planners, community activists and other interested parties.
• Robert G. Shibley, the Dean of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, founder of the Urban Design Project and a lead consultant on city and regional projects including the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Buffalo, is helping facilitate the public dialogue process for Kaleida Health.
• In late 2011, to gauge potential interest and to help drive an eventual Request for Proposal (RFP) for the re-use, Kaleida Health issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFI) to local and national developers. Forty nine national developers with experience in adaptive reuse were identified and contacted, as were nine local developers. In response to this outreach, 18 national developers and six local developers requested the RFI, five officially responded, including three local and two national firms. 
• Armed with that information, Kaleida Health has now released an official RFP to the local and national development community.  The “Hospital Reuse Design/Development Competition” is aimed at getting the best ideas and the most capable developers to do something great with Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital -- great for the neighborhood and city, great for the developer, and great for Kaleida Health.
• The winning developer/designer team will be awarded a major financial prize, contingent upon execution of the winning plan and development of the campus.  The prize is intended to communicate that desire for excellence, but it goes only to the developer that takes on the property, and the funding must go into the project. Second and third prizes will be awarded as well.
• Committed to an open process, Kaleida Health is working with the Project Advisory Committee to ensure the competition is guided by their stated "community values" and there will be a public exhibit and comment opportunity along the way.
• Kaleida Health is committed to moving the reuse of Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital along as quickly as possible and will continue to maintain the building in the interim.