NCH asks Naples to create new hospital zoning district to build taller buildings

The Naples Community Hospital is asking the city of Naples to create a new downtown hospital zoning district that establishes new height rules across most of its campus for buildings that are considered hospitals under state law.

Existing rules allow certain on-campus buildings west of Eighth Street North to be up to 30-feet tall, but the proposal would increase the height limit of new hospital buildings in the proposed district to "six stories."

The current height limit for some NCH buildings east of Eight Street North is "three stories within 42 feet," a city document shows.

If the proposed district is approved, NCH would demolish the Telford Education Center, an approximately 80-foot tall, three-story building west of Eighth Street North, and replace it with a new, six-story freestanding cardiac center building that could be approximately 100-feet tall, said Damon Romanello, CEO of Studio+, an architecture company.

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The proposed NCH Heart Institute building, tentatively scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024, is projected to cost $150 million, said Paul Hiltz, president and CEO of NCH.

"As Naples and the surrounding communities grow and evolve, healthcare services will need to grow and evolve as well," he said during a City Council meeting on Monday.

Dr. Robert Cubeddu, president of the NCH Heart Institute, said it would integrate all the subspecialties within cardiology such as surgery, labs, cardiac imaging, clinics, and rehabilitation.

"When it is 2 a.m. and you have a stroke or it is 3 a.m. and you have a heart attack, you really want to be able to go to a center of excellency," he said.

NCH could build more hospital buildings as tall as the proposed cardiac center in the proposed district, Councilman Ted Blankenship said. 

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Councilman Mike McCabe said that could be a consequence of approving the district as proposed, particularly in areas closer to single-family homes.

"That's where the danger can come in," he said.

Blankenship also requested the city attorney to submit a legal opinion on whether a charter amendment would be required before creating the new hospital district as proposed. The city's charter limits the height of commercial buildings to three floors and 42 feet.

"That is a big question that we are going to have to address," he said.

The height limit in the proposed district for new non-hospital buildings would be "three stories" and the limit for new parking garages would be "two stories." Things such as chimneys, elevator shafts and stair tower roofs could extend up to 7 feet from the peak of buildings' roofs, the proposal shows.

Existing buildings, such as the hospital's seven-story parking garage, would remain at their current height.

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Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison said it is important to effectively and accurately communicate with the community about the height of the proposed heart center to avoid confusion after several numbers were "thrown around" during the discussion, he said.

"Let's get the numbers right," he said.

Councilman Ray Christman cautioned NCH about using the concept art of the proposed NCH Heart Institute because it looks "like a really big building" compared to what is there now.

"I recognize that this is conceptual," he said.

There is more to it than just how the building looks in its conceptual stage, Romanello said. He said the hospital beds and many of the services would be transferred from other existing parts of the hospital to the proposed cardiac center.

"Three floors of this potential building are existing uses that we are transferring from the hospital," he said.

Christman, whose house sits across from the west side of the NCH campus, said it would be vital to appropriately integrate the campus with the single-family homes that are nearby.

"How this project is done and how this project is buffered properly to allow it to be a seamless connection to the residential area is very important," he said.

Contact Omar at omar.rodriguezortiz@naplesnews.com and on Twitter as @Omar_fromPR. Support his work by subscribing to Naples Daily News.