Johns Hopkins Completes Renovation of the Nelson/Harvey Building, Adds More Private Patient Rooms

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

After almost two years of construction, the renovation of the Nelson/Harvey Building at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore is now finally complete. The hospital held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 15 and moved the first patients into the new rooms on October 21.

The makeover completely modernized the property, originally built in 1977. It added 136 new private patient rooms. They will be used primarily for Department of Medicine, pulmonology, gastroenterology and cardiac medicine patients. The project also added sleeping accommodations for family members, family respite areas on each floor, updated software and equipment for caregivers, and other modern amenities.

According to Johns Hopkins, the goal of the project was to make the hospital stay more comfortable for patients and their families. The renovation is part of a larger plan to redevelop the hospital’s East Baltimore campus, a plan which is now nearing completion. The last phase of renovations are scheduled to start this November and are expected to be finished by mid-2016. It calls for the construction of 48 private rooms and 18 rehabilitation rooms in the  Meyer Building, which was built in 1982.

“We want patients to have first-class care, and that starts the moment they step on our campus,” Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in a statement for the press. “A lot of thought and care has gone into this project, and it shows.”

With the renovation of the Nelson/Harvey Building now complete, Johns Hopkins said it will reopen the Wolfe Street entrance. It was the main entrance to the hospital before 2012 and was closed during construction.