MVHS Provides Update On Downtown Utica Hospital Project

Mohawk Valley Health System held another news conference today to update the downtown Utica hospital project.

Chief Operating Officer Bob Scholefield says they have 14 signed agreements from property owners in the hospital footprint, including Compassion Coalition.

“This agreement supports Compassion Coalition’s vital work in the Columbia Street-Lafayette Street neighborhood, and it also supports MVHS’s commitment to create a regional healthcare campus to serve the community,” said Scholefield.. “We appreciate the relationship we have developed with the leadership of the Coalition; we both serve those in need and we look forward to working with them for the betterment of the community.”

Scholefield say another11 property owners are in active negotiations.

He says a group of six property owners have largely remained silent, while four property owners have indicated they will not sell.

Scholefield also says despite the rumors on social media, the footprint of the hospital has not changed.  He says half of the things that he reads on social media about the hospital project are false.

Scholefield says they're still on target for a 2019 groundbreaking for the new hospital.