Southampton Village Begins To Prepare For Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Move

As planning for a new hospital in Shinnecock Hills gets underway, Southampton Village officials are preparing plans of their own—for what to do with the existing Stony Brook Southampton Hospital facility.

The Village Planning Commission recommended to the Village Board at a meeting on May 9 that the village work with New York City-based companies James Lima Planning + Development and FXCollaborative to look into options for the nearly 20-acre property—which includes the hospital and surrounding doctors’ offices—if and when the hospital moves out, which is expected to be five to six years down the road.

“You always want to do planning before there’s an emergency,” Planning Commission Chairman Paul Travis told Village Board members.

Hospital officials have not said what their plans are for the property, which includes its own water treatment system—something the village has been looking into since 2015.

The anticipated new $300 million hospital on the Stony Brook Southampton campus in Shinnecock Hills is planned to have the same number of beds as the present hospital, 125, or possibly fewer. The plans also will include a $35 million project to add a satellite facility in East Hampton offering an emergency room and advanced outpatient medical services, with fundraising for both projects to be held simultaneously starting this year. They could be complete as early as five years from now, depending on fundraising.

Mr. Travis pointed out that inpatient beds in a hospital are actually a measurement of only a small fraction of what it provides.

“Many of the other activities, like the cancer center that they just opened, really are a much bigger role now, so perhaps some of that may end up on the site,” he said. “[Hospital officials have] been pretty open, but they’ve also been very clear with us that this is a private property, and over the last 10 years, private property owners have had a habit of reminding the Planning Commission of that fact.”

When asked on Friday what the hospital’s plans are for the property, Barbara Jo Howard, the director of communications and marketing at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, said there were no updates to report and to direct all questions to the Planning Commission.

In November 2018, Robert Chaloner, the hospital’s chief administrative officer, had said neighbors have pressed for answers—even forming a group to lobby for their interests. “What we’ve said to them, which is the absolute truth, is that we don’t know yet,” he said.

The Southampton Hospital Association retains ownership of the property—not Stony Brook Medicine. It was a key element of the agreement bringing the two entities together. “It’ll be our board’s call on what happens,” he said of the future of the existing building in Southampton Village, referring to the local Southampton Hospital Association board. “They don’t want to do anything to blight the community.”

“Hopefully, we can partner and take a look and come up with a reasonable design for them and an economic replacement for the hospital, because it’s key to the Village of Southampton and it’s key to all the retail stores,” Southampton Village Mayor Michael Irving said of the partnership with James Lima Planning + Development and FXCollaborative.

“The impact, to me, is really huge because it’s not only affecting the real estate properties but it’s also affecting the business district,” the mayor said.

Eldon Scott, a member of the Planning Commission, said a subcommittee looked at numerous companies to assist with the process, before recommending James Lima and FXCollaborative because of their leadership and experience, their experience in urban design and ability to work within zoning and code restrictions, and their desire to get the community involved in the final product, among other things.

James Lima told Village Board members that when his company comes up with comprehensive plans, they look at the impact on the local economy and small business. His team also looks at how the various stakeholders would be affected, how the projects can maintain the character of residential neighborhoods and quality of life, how history can be preserved and how the experiences for locals and visitors would be affected.

He also said he plans to work with the immediate surrounding community to see what they want at the hospital location.

“It’s a critical moment to think about managing significant change and preserving village character, and to tease out what your core values as a community are,” Mr. Lima said.

The cost of teaming up with Mr. Lima’s company and FXCollaborative to come up with a plan for the hospital site has not yet been calculated.