HCMC wants a $1 billion patient tower, but first it needs a new parking ramp

Hennepin County leaders have taken their next big step toward building a $1 billion inpatient hospital tower at HCMC.

To clear the way for the tower’s construction, county officials need to replace the aging parking ramp that now sits where the building will be constructed.

The County Board on Tuesday gave staff the OK to buy property along Centennial Place between Ninth and Tenth streets in Minneapolis to build a new 1,000-stall ramp. County officials say they hope to purchase the necessary properties without using eminent domain.

After the new ramp opens in 2027, the county can demolish the existing parking structures and other buildings just south of the hospital campus and begin planning for the structure.

The new hospital building is still a decade away and will be built on the “Parkside block” just east of Chicago Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets.

County Administrator David Hough said systemwide improvements to HCMC have been in the works for well over a decade. The plan is to consolidate HCMC’s eight-block campus and to update facilities, some of which are 100 years old.

Hennepin Healthcare System operates the hospital and other clinics for the county, which oversees its $1.5 billion budget and owns the hospital’s buildings. HCMC is Minnesota’s largest safety-net hospital and has one of the state’s Level 1 emergency trauma centers.

County leaders acknowledged Tuesday that a systemwide facilities overhaul takes a long time and is expensive.

“We have heard over and over we need improved facilities,” said board chair Irene Fernando.. “Yet, we are still so many years out from facilities that match what residents deserve.”

There has been progress with the Hennepin Healthcare Clinic and Specialty Center completed in 2018 across from the main hospital campus. The county bought the Parkside Professional Building and adjoining parking ramps a decade ago for $20 million as the site for the new hospital tower.

Hough said building a new ramp just south of where the new in-patient tower is planned will be convenient for both workers and patients. The county has earmarked $70 million in its capital improvement budget for the new ramp, but costs could be higher.

“I don’t want to telegraph pricing until we’ve gone through design work,” Hough said. “We really want to manage our costs.”

Earlier this year, county leaders lobbied the Legislature to convert the 0.15% sales tax that helped pay for Target Field to fund hospital renovations. The tax potentially could raise $40 million in annual revenue for health care.

Lawmakers were unable to come to an agreement on converting the tax, which will otherwise expire after the stadium debt is paid off next year. County leaders are considering another push in 2025 to keep the ballpark tax and use it for health care.