Delayed revamp starts at Memorial Hospital
Demolition first step in plans to boost outpatient services
Albany Demolition began Thursday on the East Wing and the Building Connector at St. Peter’s Health Partners’ Albany Memorial Campus, marking the start of a project to revitalize the campus to be a destination center for outpatient services.
Additional temporary parking will be created in place of the East Wing and Building
Connector, for the time being, said Michael Finegan, the president of acute care for the hospital.
“In order for us to create space to begin to build new facilities that serve the community, we have to create the elbow room to do that,” said Finegan.
The East Wing used to house the Memorial College of Nursing and the hospital’s business offices. The college was relocated to Maria College in 2019 and the businesses offices were also moved.
The $800,000 demolition project was budgeted for last spring. The original plan was to have the East Wing and connector down and paved before the winter came, but the COVID -19 pandemic had the hospital’s attention, and delayed the project by a couple of months, Finegan said.
The connector, which was originally built in 1989, will take two weeks to be demolished. The East Wing, which was built in 1959 and has been determined to be too costprohibitive to upgrade, is slated to be removed by the end of the month.
“We are trying to create comprehensive programs on that campus that will be able to
serve multiple needs of populations,” Finegan said about the master plan. “It could be a one-stop shop for them.”
For example, the Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Wellness Center has been relocated to the campus already, meaning the center is near the Coumadin Clinic and the emergency room.
Albany Memorial Hospital and Samaritan Hospital in Troy merged into one legal entity on Jan. 1, 2020.