Rochester’s Highland Hospital is asking the city to rezone its site so it can grow taller.
Highland COO Cindy Becker says the plan is to add four new floors on top of the hospital’s southeast wing, raising it to seven stories. The new space would be used to give nearly all Highland patients private rooms. The hospital says that improves patient care, reduces infection risk and offers more therapeutic space. The hospital’s east and west towers are already seven stories.
Adding the additional floors requires City Hall to rezone the hospital as a Planned Development District.
Becker says the hospital has to modernize to continue providing the best care into the future. The hospital hopes to start construction in Spring of 2020.