Plans for the Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building include 11 new floors and a hotel.
Credit: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, courtesy of Mayo Clinic.
The Mayo Clinic, the world-renowned medical center, has long towered over Rochester, Minnesota, in fame. It now plans to do so physically as well.
The clinic and Singapore-based real estate developer Pontiac Land Group are embarking on an ambitious plan to enlarge the Gonda Building, the medical center’s flagship location in downtown Rochester, almost 90 miles north of Minneapolis.
Plans call for adding 11 floors to the 17-year-old structure at 200 SW First St., which is currently 21 stories high, according to the clinic. Four floors would be dedicated to new clinic space and seven will be home to a premier hotel, developed by Pontiac Land.
The project, if completed, will propel Gonda past apartment building Broadway Plaza as Rochester’s tallest.
Pontiac Land is owned by the Kwees, a high-profile family that ranked No. 321 on Forbes’ list of billionaires for 2018. Pontiac Land has a number of top-tier hotel properties under its belt, including two in Singapore: the Ritz Carlton Millenia and the Regent Singapore.
The total development cost is still in flux, but Mayo Clinic has said it will invest at least $190 million into the expansion. The hotel, which will be operated by an as-yet-undisclosed hotel group, would be jointly owned by Mayo Clinic and Pontiac Land.
The addition will be used to expand the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and outpatient procedure operation, and will give Mayo about 200,000 square feet of much-needed breathing room. Mayo Clinic officials say the partnership with Pontiac Land allows them to alleviate space constraints much earlier than they would otherwise be able to.
“We have explored options to accelerate the expansion of the Gonda Building,” said Terese Horlocker, an anesthesiologist and chairwoman of Mayo Clinic’s Midwest Facilities Committee. “However, without a collaborator, the expansion would not be possible for at least a decade and at a significant additional cost.”
This is the first such partnership between Mayo Clinic and the Kwee family, though the two “have been acquainted for a number of years,” according to additional statements issued by the clinic.
The two will issue a request for proposals to architecture and design firms for this project, with the hope of beginning construction by the end of 2019 or early 2020. If all goes according to plan, the project will be complete by the end of 2022.
Mayo Clinic and Pontiac Land will not seek subsidies of any kind for the project from local or state government, according to the clinic.
Executives with Pontiac Land could not be immediately reached to comment.
