The NCH Healthcare System (NCH) plans to build a new, state-of-the-art Heart, Vascular, and Stroke Institute on its downtown campus. Currently, cardiac services are spread across departments and buildings on the downtown campus. The new building would consolidate these services into one building, thereby providing significantly improved efficiencies in care and research, as well as enhancing the patient experience. If this building isn’t built downtown it would have to be located at the NCH North Naples Hospital, which is approximately a 30 – 40-minute drive from downtown Naples, minutes that can be critical in the event of a life-threatening emergency. In fact, 67% of NCH’s heart and stroke patients requiring interventions live within 10 miles of the downtown campus.
According to the CDC, among the population 65 years of age or older, heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death (cancer being second), and the proposed building will dramatically enhance access to cardiac, vascular, and stroke services for our City’s aging population.
NCH will seek philanthropic contributions to secure a significant portion of the funds needed to build the Institute, purchase the most advanced cardiovascular technology, and recruit top-tier staff. The project would allow NCH to move 54 patient beds to new rooms and ensure that all rooms in the hospital complex will be fully private.
Mindful of the City’s current 42 feet height restriction on buildings in the downtown commercial zone, NCH is proposing the creation of a Hospital District, which would encompass just the properties that they already own. The proposed new building would only be six feet taller than the current Baker Hospital. If the Naples City Council agrees to the creation of the Hospital District, NCH will commit that this new building will be the only such structure they would build that will exceed the 42 feet height restriction. They would also commit to using trees and other vegetation that will reduce its visual impact, especially on nearby residential properties.
City Council has stated that it plans on reviewing the details of this project further at a yet-to-be-determined date in February. We will keep you posted as the project evolves.
