Kaiser envisions multiple plans for new and current San Jose hospital

SAN JOSE — Kaiser Permanente is floating multiple options for wide-ranging changes at its south San Jose campus, featuring a big new hospital and a possible demolition or revamp of the existing hospital.

The healthcare titan’s most definitive proposal is a brand-new 297-bed hospital at 284 Hospital Parkway in San Jose.

The new hospital would be a six-story L-shaped building, according to a preliminary Kaiser proposal provided to this news organization by city officials. The hospital complex would total 533,200 square feet.

What is equally certain is this is a “replacement hospital” that will supplant, to a lesser or greater degree, the existing hospital nearby, which is slated for major changes, the planning documents filed by Kaiser show.

Among the options for the current hospital, which totals 242,900 square feet, at 250 Hospital Parkway, according to the public filing:

— demolish the existing hospital and add surface parking

— decommission and vacate the existing hospital

— decommission the existing hospital and repurpose 149,000 square feet of the current hospital for outpatient surgery activities, with the remainder of the hospital to be left vacant.

— develop a medical office building that would be four to six stories, totaling 150,000 square feet, on a surface parking lot that is on the south side of the existing hospital. If this complex is built, it would replace three existing single-story medical office buildings that would be demolished.

This existing medical center contains 247 licensed beds, according to a post on the state Health Care Access and Information Department website.

The brand-new hospital would open and begin operations prior to any changes that would occur at the existing sites, Kaiser stated in the planning documents.

“Kaiser Permanente is continuously looking for opportunities to best meet the needs of our members in San Jose and support our community, while working to keep high-quality care affordable and offering our employees an outstanding work environment,” the healthcare organization stated in comments it had emailed to this news organization this week.

In 2007, Kaiser opened a 373-bed new hospital in Santa Clara. In 2014, Kaiser opened a 315-bed new hospital in Oakland.

The first floor of the new San Jose hospital would feature the emergency department and public amenities, the filing with the city shows. The second floor would accommodate the surgery center. Floors three, four, five and six would contain hospital beds. The basement level would accommodate hospital support and a loading dock.

Kaiser also envisions a one-story energy center that totals 36,000 square feet.

Two new parking structures are also planned for the additions to the San Jose campus and could provide 2,360 parking spaces.

The very preliminary proposal was filed with city planners to obtain feedback on the concept of the new hospital and how it might be developed.

The timing of the construction of the new hospital proposed for south San Jose wasn’t immediately available.

“We can confirm that evaluating potential new or replacement sites is part of our normal business operations,” Kaiser Permanente stated in the email. “We have no further information to offer at this time.”