(BREAKING) Mayo Clinic Unveils $5 Billion Expansion Plan
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) -Mayo Clinic officials, joined by Governor Tim Walz and community leaders, today unveiled detailed plans concerning a $5 billion investment in Rochester over six years.
The public unveiling of the massive expansion plans in downtown Rochester followed the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees' approval of Mayo's Bold. Foward. Unbound initiative to transform the delivery of healthcare. It calls for the construction of five new buildings containing approximately 2.4 million square feet of space.
A news release says the new facilities will be "infused with technology to improve care delivery" and the structural and architectural components will allow for future expansion. They will also feature adaptability. Mayo Clinic officials say the first-of-its-kind feature in a healthcare facility will incorporate what is called a flexible grid that will allow specific spaces or entire floors of new clinical buildings "to shift from patient room to the operating room, two diagnostic imaging suite as needs change over time."
The centerpiece of the expansion will be two new clinical buildings at the site of the current Ozmun complex and Damon parking ramp. The news release says the plans call for nine-story buildings that would be approximately the height of the 16th floor of the Gonda Building.
The new clinical buildings will be constructed to support future vertical expansions that could add up to 420 feet to the structures. Mayo officials say that would be comparable to adding nine stories to the Gonda Building.
The plans include connections between the two new buildings that would directly link five floors of the facilities on the Ozmun and Damon sites and connect to the Gonda building. There will also be a two-story sky bridge connecting the new buildings to the 10th floor of the Gonda building.
The other new buildings planned for downtown Rochester include a new logistics center at the former Lourdes High School site and two new patient parking ramps adjacent to the new clinical buildings with 1300 spaces. The news release says a "sequenced set of temporary parking solutions will be introduced for patients and staff" as changes began to take place in the construction zones. More information on those solutions will be released when it becomes available.
Mayo officials say significant construction will begin early next year with a goal of opening some facilities in 2028 and completing the project by 2030.
