Like chicks around a hen, there’s a whole contingent of medical practices that cling to the skirts of Martha Jefferson Hospital within the leafy E. High Street neighborhood. The offices of internists, orthopedists and obstetricians fill converted houses and small office buildings along E. High Street, Jefferson Street and Locust Avenue. And, as the mother hen prepares to decamp to more modern digs on Pantops in 2012, the chicks will face a decision: to follow, or not?
The short answer: It depends on specialty. "Surgeons need to have great access to the hospital," says Dr. Albert Huber, an allergist who’s kept an office in the neighborhood for nearly three decades. "Those who deal with chronic diseases"—as he does—"really don’t have to be near the hospital." He himself has no plans to move, partly because his work doesn’t require multiple daily runs to the hospital, and partly because a 30-year-old medical practice comes with quite a pile of paperwork. And then, he says, "it’s a lovely part of town."
When Martha Jefferson Hospital leaves for Pantops, which doctors will remain in the neighborhood?
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Indeed it is, and the re-imagining of Martha Jefferson—the old Martha Jefferson, as people are starting to call it—is a major undertaking with a huge potential impact. Steve Bowers, a spokesperson for the hospital, told C-VILLE that (as with the last time we checked with him, back in April) plans are still, well, in the planning stages. The hospital is looking to hire a D.C.-based firm, Economic Research Associates, to do a large-scale study of the Downtown area and the various constituencies—including city government and the neighborhood—with a stake in the outcome. "We want a good snapshot of what Charlottesville needs 10 years from now, which is a pretty big challenge," says Bowers. Results of the study would likely come in around the first of the year.
As for what, exactly, the old nine-acre campus might become, Bowers says he has no preconceived notion at all. However, both Huber and real estate agent Bob Kahn—who’s currently selling two medical office buildings near Martha Jefferson, both priced over $2 million—mentioned the idea that the hospital might become a senior living facility. "That’s a natural for that area," says Kahn. "It just seems like a very logical use."
It’s a use, too, that would seem to invite certain medical professionals to stay in—or move to—the neighborhood. "My sense is that the big rush to Pantops has happened already," says Kahn. "Those who need to be associated with the outpatient facility [which opened in 2003] have already moved."
Previous coverage:
Martha Jefferson looks to 2012 [April 24, 2007]
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