Schirin Rangnick

In the coming fiscal year, Yale New Haven Hospital will partially reconstruct its campus at the former Hospital of Saint Raphael, which is expected to raise city revenues.

Earlier this month, Mayor Toni Harp confirmed to the New Haven Independent that City Hall has been discussing the renovation of YNHH’s campus in the Dwight/West River neighborhood project with hospital administrators. According to Harp’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year — which begins on July 1 — the city hopes that the money received during the permitting process for construction will boost the city’s budget.

In Harp’s $556.6 million proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, she included a $6 million bump in revenues received from building permits for projects in the Elm City, bringing expected revenue from the permitting process up from $11.9 million this fiscal year to $17.9 million next fiscal year. The budget document, released just under a month ago, specifically noted that the bump in revenues was due to a “project related to Yale-New Haven Hospital.”

“New Haven is our home, and any time we seek to invest in access to care, we want to do so in ways that are mutually beneficial to the city and hospital,” YNHH Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Vincent Petrini said. Still, YNHH refused to share any details about the upcoming project.

Back in 2012, YNHH merged with the formerly independent Hospital of Saint Raphael to meet both hospitals’ patient number challenges. Before the merger, YNHH needed 140 additional beds to meet patient demand, while St. Raphael’s faced an 8 percent drop in patient numbers. St. Raphael’s had decided it could no longer function as a stand-alone institution, and the merger provided an opportunity for financial stabilization. At the time, YNHH stated that it would invest $129 million into renovations at St. Raphael’s, with most of the money going towards upgrading equipment.

In recent months, discussions about the campus’ reconstruction have centered on building a new multistory medical facility on the Chapel-Orchard street blocks of the Dwight/West River campus, according to the New Haven Independent. YNHH will also potentially build a new parking garage on the St. Raphael campus. Tentative construction plans include some demolition on the campus before the medical building and parking garage can be erected. According to a statement from YNHH, the hospital administration hopes that the upcoming project will help provide access to better healthcare for New Haven residents.

“We appreciate that the city’s leadership and our partnership with the Mayor and the Board of Alders is critical to achieving that goal,” the statement read.

The proposed project is a part of YNHH’s wider plan to update and renovate parts of the St. Raphael campus. Last spring, YNHH started expanding and upgrading the emergency department on St. Raphael campus. The hospital has also previously upgraded the mechanical, electrical and plumbing capabilities of the campus which will now be enhanced with the help from experienced plumbers at Sarkinen Plumbing.

Jose Davila IV | jose.davilaiv@yale.edu

JOSE DAVILA IV
Jose Davila currently serves as a Public Editor of the Yale Daily News. He previously covered Yale-New Haven Relations as a staff reporter and served as a Managing Editor. He is a senior in Morse College majoring in Global Affairs.