Mayo Clinic's new five-year plan headed to council review

Randy Petersen, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
Updated ·4 min read

Oct. 15—ROCHESTER — An early update to

Mayo Clinic's five-year plan

is up for Rochester City Council review on Monday.

The plan, which includes the addition of proposed future projects associated with Mayo Clinic's

"Bold. Forward. Unbound." initiative

, provides a glimpse at what the health care provider could build downtown, around Mayo Clinic Hospital — Saint Marys and on its northwest support campus.

Required to be updated at least every five years under a 1991 city ordinance, the plan was

last updated in 2021

.

While discussion of the new multi-year, multi-billion-dollar plan to transform the future health care and Rochester's downtown reportedly started in 2021, specific projects weren't outlined in Mayo Clinic's five-year plan.

Specific projects connected to the proposed Unbound initiative are:

* Construction of a medical building at the site of the Damon Parking Ramp, 15 Third Ave. SW.

* Construction of a medical building at the site of the Ozmun Center Building, 515 Second St. SW.

* Renovations of the east entries of the Gonda and Mayo buildings, near the Peace Plaza.

* Construction of a mixed-use building to include logistics at the site of the former Lourdes High School, 621 W. Center St.

* Construction of a new patient parking ramp north of the existing employee parking ramp at the intersection of Center Street and Fifth Avenue Northwest.

* Construction of a south parking ramp

* Demolition of 5th Avenue Inns and Suites for expanded parking

* Construction of bridges and skyways linking new medical buildings.

* Creation of subway connections to the current Ozmun site.

* Addition to the Prospect Utility Plant, 233 Third St. NW

* Construction of a utility support facility.

Approval of the plan doesn't automatically approve the projects listed in the 134-page document.

"The projects in the central medical district, as well as the special district itself, will go through the design process and will be subject to Community Development pre-development plan (reviews) and neighborhood information meetings and will comply with the (Unified Development Code)," said Melanie Baumhover, a principal with Saint Paul-based BWBR, which helped Mayo Clinic prepare the five-year plan update.

Rochester planner Ed Caples said some flexibility is allowed within Mayo Clinic's special districts to reduce the need for variances when the specific parking or design needs of a medical building don't exactly match code requirements designed for downtown commercial development.

Such flexibility is likely to be part of future review of the proposed Unbound projects, which came into the public eye during a

Minnesota legislative debate

earlier this year. Mayo Clinic publicly announced the effort in June, but final approval of any projects hasn't been given by the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees.

"'Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester' is in the process of developing schematic designs for new physical spaces for patient treatment in Rochester that will allow us to continue to provide unparalleled patient care, but with more adaptability for collaboration and seamless integration of new technologies," Katherine Arendt, an obstetric anesthesiologist serving as a physician leader for the project, said, adding that the Mayo Clinic board is expected to discuss the initiative in November.

Inclusion in the five-year plan doesn't mean all the listed projects will be completed in five years. Historically, the plans have included potential projects that were never completed or simply moved from one five-year document to the next.

If the council approved the plan, Community Development Director Irene Woodward said it will likely reset the timer for the next five-year plan, meaning the next update could occur in 2028, rather than 2026.

Meetings scheduled to be held during the week of Oct. 9 include:

Rochester

—City Council study session, 3:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers of the city-county Government Center, 151 Fourth St. SE. The meeting will livestream at

www.rochestermn.gov/meetings/council-meetings

and be available on Spectrum cable channel 180 or 188 and Metronet channel 80.

—City Council, 7 p.m. Wednesday In council chambers of the city-county Government Center. The meeting will livestream at

www.rochestermn.gov/meetings/council-meetings

and be available on Spectrum cable channel 180 or 188 and Metronet channel 80.

—Park Board study session, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 320 of City Hall, 201 Fourth St. SE.

—Library Board, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in meeting room C of the Rochester Public Library, 101 Second St. SE.

Olmsted County

—Administrative Committee, 1 p.m. Tuesday in conference room 1 of the Government Center, 151 Fourth St. SE.

—Health, Housing and Human Services Committee, 2:15 p.m. Tuesday in conference room 1 of the Government Center, 151 Fourth St. SE.

—Physical Development Committee, 2:15 p.m. Tuesday in conference room 2 of the Government Center.

—Housing and Redevelopment Authority, 4 p.m. Tuesday in the board chambers of the Government Center.

—Board of County Commissioners, 6 p.m. Tuesday in the board chambers of the Government Center.

Rochester Public Schools

—School Board, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of the Edison Building, 615 Seventh St. SW