County Says Hospital Must Provide Facility
By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Arlington residents who live near the Pentagon fear they could lose a key urgent care facility that must relocate to make way for a luxury condominium complex.
Earlier this month, the Arlington County Board approved plans for a 300-unit residential complex on the South Fern Street site now occupied by the Arlington Urgent Care Center. The new building -- with penthouse suites and a rooftop swimming pool -- is part of the Metropolitan Park redevelopment project planned for the 1300 block of South Fern Street, which includes more than 4,500 condos and a public park.
Virginia Hospital Center has operated the urgent care center since 2001 in a former warehouse. The center averages about 55 patients a day. Although its doctors and staff members generally deal with common ailments such as cuts, bruises and fevers, residents say the center fills an important health-care niche for the neighborhood.
County officials and neighbors are concerned that Virginia Hospital Center will back away from a commitment to running a clinic in the community, citing the neighborhood's rising land costs as a reason to relocate.
"We want to make sure that the urgent care doesn't go away," said Cheryl Mendonsa, president of the Aurora Highlands Civic Association. "We want to make sure that just because they're having to move again doesn't mean that they say, 'We can't find a spot' or 'We can't afford it.' "
Robin Norman, chief financial officer for Virginia Hospital Center, said the hospital is in negotiations with a developer for use of a site within walking distance of the current location. Should that fall through, she said, the hospital would be hard-pressed to find another site it could afford. The center currently pays about $11 a square foot to rent the warehouse site, about one-third of market value.
"It would be very unlikely we could find something at the kind of rent we're paying now," Norman said. "Rents there are dramatically increasing."
The hospital agreed to open the care facility as a concession during negotiations with the county over construction of a $150 million flagship hospital, which opened on North George Mason Drive in 2004.
At that time, the hospital was part of a joint venture that decided to close what was then Pentagon City Hospital on Army Navy Drive in 1999. To compensate for the loss of the emergency room and the 200-bed hospital, Virginia Hospital Center opened the urgent care facility in the neighborhood in 2001.
The current building's lease expires in June, but the developer of the Metropolitan Park project, KSI Services Inc., agreed to extend it through December and to give the hospital $125,000 for relocation costs.
County officials and residents said that under the terms of the agreement forged during construction of the flagship hospital, Virginia Hospital Center is obligated to keep a center open in the neighborhood, regardless of cost.
"I can't understand how the hospital could somehow think they're not under an obligation to maintain the service," said County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman (D). "It's the county's position that the urgent care center is a continuing obligation of the hospital. . . . It is an important health-care facility that needs to be maintained in that part of the county."
Marsha Allgeier, deputy county manager, said the county is going to work informally to help Virginia Hospital Center find a permanent site, but that the legal obligation lies with the hospital.
"It is a condition that is attached to their site plan, which is the same as any other site plan in terms of enforcement. Ultimately -- and I'm not saying this is going to happen -- we could take them to court," she said.
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