March 13, 2024
Jefferson Health has put the finishing touches on its new outpatient facility in Center City, a 19-story tower that will integrate multiple specialties under one roof when it opens April 15.
The Honickman Center, at 11th and Chestnut streets, has been constructed over the last four years on the north side of the intersection where the health system's main hospital building also stands. It encompasses about 462,000 square feet and has more than 300 exam rooms.
In addition to consolidating radiology services in one building, the tower's specialty practices will include centers for cancer, urology, hematology, rheumatology, general surgery and infectious diseases, among others.
The $762 million project forms part of the broader, multi-year East Market development that includes several residential towers and retail outlets. The building is named after Lynne and Harold Honickman, the longtime benefactors of Jefferson who donated $50 million to complete the new tower. It's the largest building Jefferson has constructed in the health system's 200-year history.
“The Honickman Center stands as our flagship medical facility in Center City and as the epicenter of a more than $1 billion urban development project in East Market," Jefferson Health CEO Joseph Cacchione said.
The outpatient tower has 58 infusion chairs for extended procedures and 10 operating rooms. It also has six endoscopy rooms, an onsite lab and a pharmacy. The facility will include 300 parking spaces.
Jefferson officials said their goal was to create a more seamless experience for patients by enabling them to have multiple appointments in a day without needing to travel between buildings in Center City. All of the patient rooms will have digital screens that enable other clinicians and relatives to participate virtually in appointments.
The hospital gathered feedback from patients in order to design the new building and determine some of its features. It includes quiet spaces, healing rooms and pet-friendly areas for people with service animals.
Patients at the Honickman Center will have access to a number of Jefferson's named care facilities, including the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Nicoletti Kidney Transplant Center and Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience.
The new tower marks a major investment in Jefferson's Philadelphia facilities as the health system has increasingly branched outward in the region by acquiring other hospitals over the last decade. Jefferson Health has grown into an 18-hospital network and recently announced plans to combine with Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Elsewhere in Center City, Jefferson has plans to construct the 12-story Caroline Kimmel Biomedical Research Building near 10th and Locust streets, where it will be connected by a bridge to the adjacent Bluemle Life Science Building. That project will consist primarily of lab space, offices and a conference center.