Ryan wants use study for Women and Children's Hospital campus

Kaleida has plans to move Women and Children's to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus in late 2015.

Ryan wants Kaleida Health to seek the assistance of the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute (ULI) to determine what it can do with the current hospital campus between Hodge and Bryant near the Elmwood Village.

"Kaleida should not wait, and should immediately engage the Urban Land Institute as part of their overall process for the re-use of [Women and] Children's," Ryan said during a late Wednesday morning news conference outside the former Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital. 

Millard Fillmore Gates has a re-use plan in place, but remains vacant nearly a year after it closed in March 2011, Ryan said.  
 

ULI was involved in the study for the redevelopment potential for Milliard Fillmore Gates and the HH Richardson complex.

In a letter to Kaleida Health President and CEO James Kaskie, Ryan pointed out that while a ULI study will not be the final step in the process, it is important to have a wide variety of re-use ideas available for the public to examine.

Ryan says the Washington-based Urban Land Institute can examine a project from all perspectives, including market potential, land use and design, financing and development strategies.

ULI has nearly 30-thousand members, including land developers, public officials, academics, financiers, market analysts, architects, planners, and urban designers.