New Brooks-TLC Costs To Top $74M

Lockport Memorial Hospital opened last October at a cost of $70 million.

Nearly one year ago, a Western New York community celebrated an important addition: a newly constructed hospital. Opening on Oct. 8, 2023, the Lockport Memorial Hospital is seen as vital to the region since Eastern Niagara Hospital in the city went bankrupt and closed less than four months earlier on June 17.

As part of the Catholic Health network, the ground-breaking of the 60,000-square-foot facility only two years earlier was touted as a way to bring better access to health care for some 80,000 residents in Niagara County. With 30 outpatient exam rooms and 10 patient beds, the location offers laboratory services, emergency care, cardiac care and imaging services.

“This is an exciting time for Catholic Health, Mount St. Mary’s Hospital and families throughout eastern Niagara County,” C.J. Urlaub, Catholic Health’s senior vice president of strategic partnerships, integration and care delivery in Niagara County and Mount St. Mary’s Hospital president, said in The Buffalo News. “We are proud to expand our services across Niagara County.”

Its overall price tag? Seventy million dollars.

In northern Chautauqua County, the total cost for a new Brooks-TLC Hospital that will be built in Fredonia remains an uncertainty. Since state Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the release of $74 million in state funding for the location that will be at the former Cornell Cooperative Extension site at 412 W. Main St., which is east of the roundabout, Kaleida Health and area hospital officials have been working behind the scenes — and at the village location — in preparation for the building to begin.

“Costs are different than they were seven years ago,” said Rob Bragg, vice president of campus development at Kaleida Health.

According to plans when the new hospital was first being discussed in 2016 and 2017, the downsized facility plans included emergency services with 12 bays, 15 medical and surgical beds, four surgical suites and two rooms for procedure, imaging with CT scans, MRI and ultrasound, stat lab services, a pharmacy, support services and a helipad. In addition, an adjacent facility of a medical office building would include administrative space, diagnostics, a lab draw station, physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation, a primary care clinic and other specialized services that would include: oncology, wound care, pain management and general surgery to name a few.

While no potential size of the micro hospital was mentioned in a report from a commission of four members with health-care experience that was completed on the project in the fall of 2022, the nearby medical facility was pegged at 36,000 square feet.

During a conference call with Brooks-TLC and Kaleida Health in August, leaders admitted that the funding from the state is an important start. “What do we need from a health-care delivery perspective in the next 50 years?” said Mike Hughes, senior vice president and chief administrative officer for Kaleida. “Obviously things have changed since we first put that plan together. … I think you can expect it to be more than the $74 million that was planned seven years ago in 2017. But what that number looks like, what the alternate hospital will look like coming out of this remains to be seen.”

In Lockport, Catholic Health relied on bond financing, public and private grants and charitable donations. Additionally, the state invested more than $30 million for the hospital while also supporting a temporary emergency room during construction of the facility. In this case, state aid represented 43% of the project’s cost.

Though no final price tag has been discussed for Brooks-TLC, there will be a gap that needs to be covered through grants or even a potential funding campaign. That’s where the affiliation with Kaleida becomes valuable in seeking out additional dollars.

In addition, Kaleida has been a part of major projects that include the expansion of Millard Fillmore Hospital in Amherst as well as the building of HighPointe on Michigan, the Gates Vascular Institute and Children’s Hospital, all located in Buffalo. This Fredonia build would be one more piece for the largest healthcare provider in the region.

“I can’t tell you how excited we are about this (Brooks-TLC) project,” Bragg said. “We’re looking forward to being a part of helping the community.”