Allegheny General Hospital receives approval for long-range development plan

Pittsburgh City Council on Monday approved an institutional master plan that lays out Allegheny General Hospital’s development goals over the next decade.

Under the 10-year plan, all patient rooms at the North Side hospital will be converted to private rooms.

The plan indicates the hospital also is considering constructing new buildings at Sandusky Street and North Avenue, James Street and North Avenue or James and Hemlock streets. The hospital has not finalized plans for development at any of those sites yet.

Allegheny General is anticipating growth in its cardiac, neuro, surgery and medicine departments over the next decade, hospital leaders said.

The institutional master plan earned a recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission in June. Council members unanimously approved the plan Monday, though they had heard mixed responses from community members about the measure.

Hospital leaders have said they would continue working with community members to address ongoing concerns. Ahead of a preliminary vote last week, Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, said he appreciated the hospital’s “commitment to the discussion around what they can do to make it more livable for the residents around there.”

Residents voiced concerns about parking availability near the hospital and the impacts of additional construction projects on nearby neighbors. Some people also complained about the noise of medical helicopters.

The new master plan suggests moving the hospital’s helipad to the roof of the Snyder Pavilion building, which hospital leaders have said could reduce noise for residents in the vicinity.

The hospital last updated its master plan in 2018.

Allegheny General has 524 beds and is staffed by 800 physicians, 100 medical students and about 4,000 staff members. The hospital admits about 24,000 patients annually and has about 300,000 outpatient visits per year. The hospital also has more than 55,000 emergency department registrations each year and handles more than 23,000 surgical procedures annually.