Hospital Officials Object to Rival’s Plan to Lease Norwalk, Conn., Site
By Chris Bosak, The Hour, Norwalk, Conn.
Nov. 30–NORWALK — Stamford Hospital is eyeing space in Norwalk, a move not sitting well with officials at Norwalk Hospital.
Stamford Hospital plans to lease 75,000 square feet at 166 Glover Ave. as an ambulatory care center with fitness center, medical office space and other diagnostic services to be determined, according to Stamford Hospital spokesman Scott Orstadt.
An ambulatory care centers provides health services such as same-day surgery to outpatients, or patients not admitted to the hospital.
Orstadt added that the plans are in the early stages and still subject to state and local approvals.
Stamford Hospital is eyeing the location to, “better meet the needs of residents and commuters in Stamford’s service area who are increasingly demanding access to this type of one-stop, integrative medical care,” Orstadt wrote in an e-mail to The Hour on Thursday. “Greater availability of such facilities can… improve the health of the community while offering medical services more efficiently and at a lower cost in an ambulatory setting.”
Norwalk Hospital officials, however, take exception to the plan, saying their hospital already offers similar services in the city. Also, Norwalk Hospital has leased 100,000 square feet at iPark — the former headquarters of Perkin-Elmer on the Norwalk-Wilton line — for offices, a wellness center and other medical services.
“We have serious concerns that the proposed plans for the facility on Glover Avenue appear to duplicate services that Norwalk Hospital is already providing to the surrounding communities,” Dr. David Marks, senior director of communications at Norwalk Hospital, said. “There are no town boundaries when it comes to health care. Our patients come from Norwalk, Westport, Weston, Wilton, New Canaan, Darien and Fairfield as well as Stamford, Ridgefield, Greenwich, Redding and other surrounding towns. As always, we will meet the health care needs of all of our patients.”
Orstadt said the move into Norwalk is necessary because “worsening traffic conditions in the region have necessitated the placement of hospital services closer to where patients live and work.”
The proposal, he said, is only the latest of Stamford Hospital’s “continuing shift to outpatient care by providing… services in locations away from its main hospital campus.”
Stamford Hospital also operates Tully Health Center in Stamford and Darien Imaging Center.
Norwalk development company Building & Land Technology purchased 166 Glover Ave. — the former location of Vectron International — last year for $6.3 million. The building is located within a concentration of office buildings along Main Avenue near the Merritt Parkway. Officials at B< did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
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