Want to weigh in on re-using St. Elizabeth, St. Luke's? Meetings are coming up

Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch

Interested in the fate of the now closed St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth campuses of the Mohawk Valley Health System?

Well, there are public meetings coming up to talk about redevelopment plans.

Reimagine St. Luke’s, an effort led by Oneida County, Mohawk Valley EDGE, MVHS and the Town of New Hartford, will hold a community visioning workshop from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30, in the auditorium of the New York Mills Junior/Senior High School at 1 Marauder Blvd.

And a public meeting at 6 p.m. on May 7 in the Sinnott Family-Bank of Utica Auditorium at Munson, at 310 Genesee St., will address the future of the St. Elizabeth Campus in Utica.

The hospital on the St. Elizabeth Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, seen in this O-D file photo, was built in 1917. It's been vacant since Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica on Oct. 29, 2023. A re-use plan is being developed with input from community members.
The hospital on the St. Elizabeth Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, seen in this O-D file photo, was built in 1917. It's been vacant since Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica on Oct. 29, 2023. A re-use plan is being developed with input from community members.

“The former St. Elizabeth’s campus and its future re-use holds tremendous potential for the south Utica neighborhood and the entire city of Utica,” Mayor Mike Galime said. “The re-use scenarios that will be presented with a focus on residential use in varied forms and density will grow our tax base, an important consideration for any re-use.”

Meetings

At the meeting, city officials, members of the re-use steering committee and representatives for the consultants helping with the planning will present potential re-use scenarios including renderings and preliminary projected costs for demolition and/or construction for each scenario. This will be the second public meeting to discuss the re-use of St. Elizabeth’s.

The St. Luke’s meeting will focus on a market and site analysis of the campus with discussion also of design approaches and models that might be helpful for guiding the re-use. Representatives from Fu Wilmers Design, the firm developing a master plan for the site, will be available to speak to the public.

This is also the second public meeting on St. Luke’s; the first was held in February.

“Public participation for the first community forum was excellent,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said. “We received extensive input and valuable feedback, and are hoping to build upon that with even more engagement on April 30th. A robust public discussion will be invaluable as we move forward to explore design alternatives for the site.”

The roughly 700,000-square-foot hospital on the St. Luke's Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System has sat empty since the hospital closed and the new Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica on Oct. 29, 2023. Public input is being sought as a consulting firm puts together a master plan for the re-use of the campus in New Hartford.
The roughly 700,000-square-foot hospital on the St. Luke's Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System has sat empty since the hospital closed and the new Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica on Oct. 29, 2023. Public input is being sought as a consulting firm puts together a master plan for the re-use of the campus in New Hartford.

Re-use possibilities

A facilities study of the site is being conducted by Weston & Sampson concurrent to the master plan study. It is looking at the physical conditions on the site and what portions of existing buildings can be re-used and which cannot be.

The master plan will include three concepts for re-use.

An advisory group made up of community leaders, representatives from surrounding neighborhoods, members of community service organizations, faith-based group members, small business owners, representatives from housing organizations and real-estate developers is also providing input for the re-use plan.

Two more public meetings are planned by September 2024 to give further information to the public and to gather feedback.

The hospitals and most of the buildings on both campuses closed after Wynn Hospital opened in downtown Utica on Oct. 29, 2023.

But master plans for both sites will have to incorporate an existing building. On the St. Elizabeth campus, the St. Elizabeth College of Nursing will remain open. And at St. Luke’s, the Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services, which includes a nursing home, will remain.

For more information on the St. Luke’s project, go to www.reimaginestlukes.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Meetings on St. Elizabeth, St. Luke's re-use master plans

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