A draft environmental impact report published by the City of Santa Monica details plans for a two-decade expansion of Providence St. John's Health Center.

Founded in 1942, the 266-bed hospital sits on a 10-acre campus which flanks Santa Monica Boulevard between 20th and 23rd Streets.  The hospital's core facilities span approximately 475,000 square feet of floor area, a steep reduction from its footprint prior to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, when several of its facilities were damaged and removed from service.

Providence Health Systems, which purchased the campus in 2013, is seeking entitlements to remove the existing Saint John's Health Center foundation building, MRI facility, John Wayne Cancer Institute, and a vacant apartment building to make way for 10 new structures.  Per the project's draft environmental impact report, the proposed facilities would include up to:

  • 354,000 square feet of hospital/health care facilities; 
  • 140,000 square feet of medical research facilities; 
  • 90,000 square feet for a health and wellness center; 
  • 70,000 square feet for a educational and conference center; 
  • 50,000 square feet for a child and family development center; 
  • 50,000 square feet of medical offices; 
  • 40,000 square feet of health-related services; 
  • 25,000 square feet for a day care; 
  • 10,000 square feet of restaurant space; 
  • 5,000-square feet of neighborhood-serving retail; 
  • 100 units of visitor housing; and 
  • 10 units of multifamily replacement housing.

Rendering of the project, which is being master planned by Perkins Eastman, depict a collection of contemporary low- and mid-rise structures standing as tall as 105 feet in height.  A site plan shows that the project, which would replace a number of surface parking lots, calls for a number of garden spaces and internal passageways to allow for pedestrian circulation within the campus.

Parking would be provided in the form of above- and below-grade garages - one of which would potentially extend as far as five levels underground.  Construction of the master plan projects is expected to occur in phases over approximately 20 years, beginning as early as 2021 and concluding by 2041.

The project will require multiple approvals from the City of Santa Monica, including an amendment to an existing development agreement and the certification of the project's environmental impact report.

Providence Health Systems also operates the Providence Tarzana Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley, where construction began last year for a $542-million modernization project.