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Faulkner Hospital files plans for more beds, parking

Rendering of new Faulkner Hospital

Rendering shows new wing on left, expanded garage on right.

Brigham and Women's Hospital yesterday filed plans for its proposed $250-million, multi-year expansion of Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plan that, if approved, would mean a 46% increase in in-patient beds and way more parking than at present.

In a filing with the BPDA, the hospital says the updates are badly needed to keep pace with modern medicine and hospital care:

Today, the Hospital’s inpatient facilities, which have not been expanded since 1976, limit its ability to care for patients and restrict its ability to employ new technologies. BWFH continuously operates at high levels of occupancy during the weekdays, limiting its ability to accept additional patients, and its narrow inpatient floors – designed more than 40 years ago – do not provide sufficient space for today’s technologies and patient care protocols.

At the heart of the plans is a five-story addition at the front of the hospital's that would include 78 new in-patient beds as well as room for a new MRI machine, an expanded endoscopy center and a new "extended recovery/post-procedure recovery unit" in which patients who don't need long-term care could recover from surgery.

The new post procedure recovery area will allow providers to care for patients without admitting them to an inpatient bed. This will improve the patient experience by creating capacity on inpatient units for patients who require longer recovery time. This will also improve the patient flow through the Hospital by avoiding the need to admit the patient to inpatient units, that are often at or above capacity, or blocking rooms to recover patients who may not need inpatient level care.

The proposal calls for tearing down the current 580-car garage off Allandale Street and replacing it and the current 131 parking-lot spaces with a new 952-space garage and 91 parking-lot spaces. On the other side of the hospital, Faulkner would add three new levels - and 171 new parking spaces to the current garage there. All the changes would mean a new increase of 503 parking spaces for hospital employees, patients and visitors.

Faulkner hopes to begin construction this fall by starting a 20-month replacement of the garage off Allandale Street, followed by two years of construction of the new in-patient floors at the end of 2020. In 2024, the hospital hopes to start 18 months of work to add the new floors to the other garage.

In addition to the BPDA, the plans also need a "determination of need" by the state Department of Public Health.

Faulkner Hospital project-notification form (37M PDF).

Proposed changes:

Map showing proposed additions and changes to Faulkner Hospital


This is an outrage - people should walk or ride their bike to the hospital or maybe take the bus. In fact, Centre St should be closed and turned into a single dirt path in each direction. Never more parking!

Seriously though, I was delighted when our pediatrician left the Faulkner and moved to WR. I hope to never enter that parking lot again (on foot, velocipede, horseback or car.)


I take transit or bike to hospitals all the time. The vast majority of people going to hospitals are not incapacitated. They're staff, outpatients going to checkup-type appointments, or visitors. There are even those stops on the Red and Orange Lines named for hospitals.


This is a common misconception. When I've advocated for better bike infrastructure (or, like, for there to literally be anything within several blocks that we can lock bikes to), the representatives from the hospitals have told me that it isn't a priority since people going to hospitals are generally sick or injured. After I've told them how my family and I are at them weekly or more for appointments that don't have anything to do with being unable to bike there.

Why would they want people doing something that makes them healthier?

Why is Faulkner so isolated from public transportation? There should be many bus lines stopping nearby instead of only one (38).

Parking is a nightmare. I had one incident where I where I couldn't find parking on the entire campus and garage and almost gave up and went home. Another time someone yelled at me for idling in my car waiting for parking to open up inside the garage.


I had to stop getting my specialist care from Brigham and Women's Hospital because all of their day surgery is done at the Faulkner Hospital. So inconvenient to arrive there at the required early morning time by public transportation.


Not in my lifetime or yours. So for those of us who are semi self sufficient build more parking.

The only bus that goes to the Faulkner is the #38 bus and that doesn't run often and doesn't run on a Sunday at all. As it is the Faulkner provides its staff with an employee shuttle to and from Forest Hills Station. And the driver often blocks traffic and parking spaces in the drop off areas. So with that kind of mass transit we don't need enemies.

When you place hospitals on hills parking is restricted. A bigger garage can't hurt.

As a patient who's primary care physician is located in the Faulkner, the valet parking system at the front door is very efficient and priced reasonably. I welcome more self-parking in the years to come.


You don’t unicycle there like everyone else from east bum fuck.

Well they’ve moved here now and clearly know what’s best for everyone else. Hit the bike store this weekend.

Pro tip, buy some unflattering spandexes.


If they want more parking they should start by increasing their rates. Throwing more parking spots at the problem is something I'd expect to hear out of Ol' Five Car. Adding a few hundred spaces may benefit them but it'll make congestion in the area worse for everyone else.


The vast majority of people who go to the Faulkner would not be influenced to get there some other way, regardless of the price. Oh sure, you might get a few more people taking Ubers or getting dropped off. Since your goal was to not increase traffic, neither of those options would achieve that goal.

Faulker isn't the Brigham - this isn't a well connected spot steps away from rail transit with multiple bike travel paths and bus access to boot. There's one bus, it doesn't run often, it doesn't run sundays, and centre street on that stretch is full of insane motherfuckers who will hit a biker with no remorse (plus the road design is awful, even for cars - that lane shift to turn left into the hospital? wtf)

anyway hospitals, like a few other businesses, are one of the few where parking rates aren't going to make an appreciable dent. parking at beth israel is like 40$ at this point and people still drive it (and that IS more easily accessible).

It’s a hospital, not a shopping mall. Adding the spaces isn’t increasing their amount of visitors, probably just a shorter line for the valet.

I've never heard of any significant induced demand for visits to a hospital driven by ease of access

On one hand: its like dealing with your puppy on a cold and stormy night -- when you gotta go you gotta go

On the other hand: we have the knee jerk response of those on this forum who are always the Hammer in the old saw [pun?]

When you're a Hammer everything looks like a Nail

The only relevant Transit consideration is that when the Commonwealth looks at the need for the expansion -- they might talk to the T [supposedly in the process of reviewing bus routes] about providing better bus service for the staff, and some number of the less=sick chronic patients [e.g. Joe or Josie who comes in weekly for some sort of regular ambulatory care]