Design Plans Unveiled for Niagara Medical Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Initial design plans for an $80 million hospital and outpatient surgery center have been unveiled, according to reports.

The project will add to a cluster of new buildings reshaping health care in Buffalo and the downtown landscape. Construction is already under way on a $291 million, 10-story vascular care and medical research facility.

The proposed 350,000 square-foot medical building, one of the largest developments to date in Buffalo history, will feature a contemporary glass-paneled design to offer passers-by a clear view of the activity inside. Other features of the seven-story building include plans for “green” technology to be used to build and operate the complex.

The surgery center will fill approximately 25 percent of the space in the building, and is seen as the first step toward the eventual move of the existing pediatric hospital from its current Elmwood Village neighborhood to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The remaining space will be leased to doctors for offices and to a diagnostic imaging center.  The building will also involve some multiuse, with retail space on the ground floor.

Plans call for work on the project to begin in March and to be completed by end of year 2012.