Motivated by a state law requiring seismic retrofits of acute care facilities, Barlow Respiratory Hospital has spent the past three years refurbishing and upgrading the facilities at its campus in Elysian Park.  Now the hospital, founded nearly 120 years ago to treat tuberculosis patients, is setting its sights on ground-up construction.

Earlier this month, an application was submitted to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning which would permit the hospital to add a new skilled nursing facility to its property at 2000 N. Stadium Way.  The Eastsider reported in March that the four-story, 150-bed nursing home would replace a parking lot at the south end of the campus, while the project's entitlement submission also indicates that one structure which contributed to the property's Historic-Cultural Monument application would be demolished.

Location of the Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Elysian ParkGoogle Maps

“The proposed facility will fill a void to become the only skilled nursing facility to serve the downtown Los Angeles area and will ensure uninterrupted continuum of care,” a Barlow spokesperson told the Eastsider.

Zakian Woo Architects, which worked on the hospital's broader master plan, is designing the new building.

Some of Barlow's other facilities, completed between 1902 and 1983, are also in the midst of construction.  The hospital is currently gutting and refurbishing one of its existing buildings to be repurposed for patient care.  That project, slated for completion in 2022, will allow the existing hospital building to be converted to administrative offices.