Hot Property: Ambulatory Outpatient Specialty Center at Hennepin County Medical Center

Type: Medical

Size: 367,000 square feet

Cost: $224.6 million

Developer: Hennepin County Medical Center

Architects: BWBR

Details: The Hennepin County Medical Center and architects BWBR have revealed more design, landscaping and site plan details of the new Ambulatory Outpatient Specialty Center across S. 8th Street from HCMC's emergency department as the project begins its navigation through the city approval process.

Originally slated to be 322,000 square feet, HCMC announced in April it had opted to increase the center's size. Original plans called for a seven-level building running east-west along 8th Street. A 45,000-square-foot, three-story wing along Chicago Avenue was subsequently added, giving the center an "L" shape.

Hospital officials said the changes were made in order to immediately move all of HCMC's scattered downtown clinics into the new center amid a boom in demand triggered by new residents moving to the city's core. It's now set to open in December 2017.

In the modified plans submitted to the city this month, the seven-story section retains its distinctive curving glass facade, which is designed to complement the similarly curving facade of the emergency department across the street, while the added three-story wing features a straightforward massing along Chicago Avenue.

HCMC has also refined the concept for a public gathering space at the corner of 9th Street and Park Avenue into a "pocket park" with landscaping elements including benches, planting beds and architectural pavers.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.