State approves controversial $1 billion expansion project for Children's Hospital

BOSTON — State health officials on Thursday approved a $1 billion expansion project for Boston Children’s Hospital, despite protests against tearing up the facility’s healing garden.

The Massachusetts Public Health Council voted to approve the controversial project, making way for a new 11-story tower to stand where the beloved Prouty Garden has comforted young patients and their families for decades.

The project, which also includes renovations to the Longwood medical campus and the redevelopment of a Brookline property, will add 71 hospital beds, four operating rooms and two MRI machines, offering life-saving care to critically ill children locally, nationally and internationally, Children’s Hospital CEO Sandra Fenwick said.

“We're very pleased that we received approval today by the Public Health Council,” Fenwick told reporters. “And as we all have said, this is for the children, this is for the families and for the future of Boston Children's, and what we can do for them today and tomorrow.”

Hours before the hearing, protestors had rallied at the State House to save the therapeutic garden. They pleaded for a two-month delay to weigh other options.

Elizabeth Richter, who attended the meeting, told FOX25 approval of the plan means destroying the burial ground of her brother, David, who died at 12 years old to a brain tumor in 1973. She and her family have annually visited the garden where they scattered David’s ashes.

“It's very said. We spent hours in that garden walking around together,” Richter said. “It’s just incredibly sad to know that his gravesite is basically going to be desecrated.”

Some protestors cited a report that found the expensive project could lead to an increase in health care costs for the poorest and sickest children. The hospital denied the claim and, as a condition of the council’s approval, agreed to pay up to 2.5 percent of the project cost, if the hospital fails to meet the needs of Medicaid patients.

Many asked why Children’s couldn’t choose another location and spare the healing garden. Fenwick called the future destruction of the garden “a loss to all of us,” but a necessary one.

“We have been at this for over six years. We have looked at 15 options. We have reviewed every possible option,” said Fenwick, who stressed the importance of keeping the new tower close to current facilities. “It was the only solution that was viable for us.”

Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh lent their support to the expansion plan, citing, too, the need to meet the demand of sick children with top-notch medical care.

The hospital plans to create 25 percent more green space. No date has yet been set for construction to begin.

Cox Media Group